With Dr Babita Angle tipped to take over the reigns of the Margao civic body, Madgavkars will be certainly looking forward for ahealing touch from the city-based doctor to the ills plaguing the commercial capital. Four days from today, the commercial capital will have a new civic Chief, but the burning issues affecting the city all remain the same. Though Madgavkars have given a huge mandate for the Margao Civic Alliance comprising MLA Vijai Sardesai’s Fatorda Forward and legislator Digambar Kamat’s Model Margao, the new band of 'city fathers' led by Dr Angle has a clear task cut out to resolve a host of issues, right from addressing the garbage woes, streamlining door-to-door waste collection, mopping up revenues and toning up recoveries, and providing a clean and transparent administration et al, reports Guilherme Almeida
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Unlike the capital city, Margao is blessed with a waste dumping site and a waste treatment plant. But, that has not helped the commercial capital tide over the acute garbage disposal problem and achieve the dream of a 'bin-less' city. Margao is facing an acute shortage of bins, with the promised bins not forthcoming from the government. The new civic chief is required to not only ensure smooth transportation of waste to the dumpyard, but to also take an initiative to resolve the issues at the plant site, including the early commissioning of the landfill site.
It’s now exactly 14 months since the Margao civic body experimented with the door-to-door waste collection in the city, but the system is yet to fall in place till date. To tide over the problems plaguing the system, the High Powered Co-ordination Committee (HPCC) headed by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had strongly recommended outsourcing of the system. 'The Goan' understands that while the Margao civic body has submitted a detailed outsourcing proposal to the government around two months ago, there’s still no reply from the Director of Municipal Administration (DMA) till date.
With tax arrears pegged at a whopping over Rs 10 crore, the new council has a task cut out to go after revenue recoveries from day one. Besides, the council will have to prepare a road map on how to mop up additional revenue which will make the civic body self-sustaining. Thousands of establishments operate in the city without paying the mandatory trade license and advertising tax to the civic body. Revenue from these two heads itself can enrich MMC to the tune of Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 crore annually. A dedicated cell comprising city fathers, officials and citizens can help check the revenue recoveries on a day-to-day basis and enrich the civic coffers.
The new civic chief has a task cut out to take a call on whether to go ahead with the multi-storey parking project at the old fish market, the foundation stone for which was laid by the last council headed by Arthur D’Silva. The civic body has in its coffers funds to the tune of Rs 4 crore for the parking project, but the new chief will have to arrange the balance Rs 2 crore and help complete the ambitious project. The council will also be called upon to pursue with the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) the fate of the parking project at the pick-up stand and opposite the KTC bus stand on priority.
Dr Babita Angle may not be new to the burning issue of stray dog menace facing the city. Her husband Dilip is closely associated with the city-based NGO, South Goa Welfare Trust for Animals, involved in tackling the strays. The Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme in the city has hit a hurdle for want of wholehearted support and funds from the civic body. Tackling strays head on is indeed craving for immediate attention from the new municipal body for quite some time now.
Can pedestrians and shoppers look forward for encroachment-free footpaths and passages, especially in and around the Municipal markets under the new dispensation? The job does not seem easy as it appears, as the new council runs the risk of coming face-to-face with the market traders. But, as in the words of freedom fighter and MARG Convenor, Gurunath Kelekar, the civic body can address any issue, provided it has a will to do so. Encroachments are literally an order of the day in the municipal markets.
It’s now five years since the council adopted a resolution to construct an overhead water tank to meet fire emergencies, but in vain. The new council has its task cut out to address the issue as the Municipal New Market is virtually sitting on a fire hazard, with the fire hydrants lying defunct for want of dedicated water supply.
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Civic babus run the show, not councillors
Moments after Madgavkars gave a huge mandate for Fatorda Forward in the Municipal election, convenor MLA Vijai Sardesai was quick to term the victory as a mandate for stability, people friendly and corruption-free municipal administration.
The Fatorda MLA may not be wrong in interpreting the victory as a mandate for a transparent and corruption-free administration, but the ground reality may turn out different. The Margao Municipal's technical section had earned notoriety over the years as the hotbed of corruption in the civic body. The elected council does not exercise any direct control over the technical section. Attempts to bring the technical section under the scanner of the chairperson or the elected council had met with stiff resistance in the past. Construction files are not ordinarily routed through the chairperson and the civic chief can only call for a particular file on request.
That’s not all. The civic administration is run by the government-appointed Chief Officer, with the chairperson enjoying the supervisory role in the civic body. And, in the absence of a common cadre for the municipal employees, city fathers often find themselves at the mercy of the civic babus.
Says Sardesai: “We are aware of the functioning of the civic bodies. That’s the reason I have insisted on the devolution of powers and function to the municipal bodies under the 74th Constitutional Amendment. The government cannot make a mockery of the elected chairperson and councillors if the Chief Officer takes a final call in the civic body.”
