THE ALLEGATIONS
Collected fee has not reached Curti VP or Ponda council
About 7000 household pay Rs 60 per month as collection fee
PMC garbage committee and Curti-Khandepar VP accused of fraud
PMC says no contractor has been appointed in Curti-Khandepar area
Source says some locals are collecting waste without contract from authorities
PMC councillors allege scam in garbage collection in Curti
Say no contractor appointed but money is being collected
THE GOAN NETWORK
PONDA
Alleging that the door-to-door collection of garbage in Curti Panchayat area is a big scam, three councillors of Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) have accused the PMC garbage committee and Curti-Khandepar Panchayat of being responsible for the fraud.
PMC has, however, refuted the allegations levelled by the three councillors.
Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, councillors Shivanand Sawant, Vidya Punalekar and Vincent Paul Fernandes claimed that the money collected for the service had not reached the coffers of both the local bodies and have demanded an inquiry into the matter.
“About 7,000 houses are registered with Curti Panchayat and each household pays Rs 60 for door-to-door garbage collection service. This comes to about Rs 4 lakh monthly,” Sawant informed.
Shivanand Sawant has obtained information through RTI, which says that the panchayat has not appointed any contractor to collect door-to-door garbage.
Sawant further alleged that about 40 labourers of PMC work in Curti area for garbage collection.
PMC has refuted the allegations levelled by the three councillors.
Curti Sarpanch Deepa Naik confirmed that the panchayat has not appointed any contractor and the municipal council looks after garbage collection. “People pay Rs 60 for the service. The initiative by PMC helps us to keep our area clean,” she said.
When contacted, Councillor Venkatesh alias Dada Naik, who is chairman of the garbage committee, said PMC has not appointed any contractor to collect garbage from Curti area. “We have no relation with any contractor. We only lift garbage collected by them and dispose it,” Naik informed.
Naik further said as per High Court direction, PMC lifts garbage from Curti Panchayat area as the Kerye garbage treatment site is in this area. “We have garbage bins in areas of Nagamasjid, Haveli, Ganganagar, Mestwada and Sapana Park and we lift garbage only from these areas,” he added.
Naik reiterated that they have no business with any contractor and not aware who collects door-to-door garbage for the panchayat.
“I will resign as councillor if Shivananad Sawant proves any scam and our involvement in it,” Venkatesh challenged.
As both the local bodies informed that they have not engaged any contractor for door-to-door collection of garbage, when The Goan inquired with some elected representative, it was revealed that some individuals are collecting it without any agreement with the local bodies.
“Some local individuals and some from Maharashtra have taken the task to collect garbage from every house. They collect money from the people, which is illegal as nobody has given them a contract,” the source told The Goan.
