the goan I network
MARGAO
Private contractors running night soil tankers make hay even as red tape has grounded Margao Municipal tankers in the garage with the Civic body found dragging its feet in issuing a Demand Draft to the PWD for disposal of sewage at the sewage treatment plant.
In fact, the civic body appears to be taking its own time to complete the formalities in issuing a common Demand Draft amounting to Rs 25,000, allowing the private night soil tanker contractors to have a field day.
The Margao Municipal council has two night soil tankers at its disposal, but both vehicles are presently stranded at the municipal garage with the civic body refusing to accept bookings because of the administration’s delay in issuing the Demand Draft.
When The Goan inquired with the municipal sanitary section regarding the fate of the night soil tankers, more so when members of the public had been returning home disappointed, without getting the tanker facility, the officials had claimed that the office is trying to get the whereabouts of the file pertaining to the night soil tanker.
The officials pointed out that they have traced the file, but are now awaiting signature from the Chief Officer Ajit Panchwadkar before the sanitary section can submit the DD to the office of the PWD- sewerage
department.
Night soil operations of the Margao Municipal Council, which had generated business running into lakhs of rupees over the years, had come to a halt for over a month now after the PWD insisted a Demand draft of Rs 500 instead of cash for unloading the sewage at the Sirvodem sewage plant.
To save citizens from going to the bank for the Demand Draft of Rs 500, the sanitary section of the Margao Municipal council mooted a proposal to issue a common Demand Draft amounting to Rs 25,000 to the PWD, with a plea to the sewage department to deduct the amount according to the number of trips made by the night soil tankers to the Sirvodem plant.
With the proposal hitting a road block because of red tape, the private contractors, sources said, are making roaring business in unloading septic tanks, not only from Margao, but from the neighbouring villages of Salcete as well.
