PANAJI
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane has seemingly dug his heels on the controversy over recruitment in Margao Municipal Council and announced that until a 'common cadre' takes shape for all of Goa's civic bodies, no jobs will be filled in any municipality.
Rane, who also holds the Urban Development portfolio, said on Saturday that recruitment of municipal employees will be temporarily put on hold until the question of setting up a 'common cadre' for all the civic bodies in the State is ironed out.
"The file is being sent to the Law Minister Nilesh Cabral for his inputs, we will then forward it to CM Sawant and the Cabinet," Rane said.
Setting up a common cadre for staffing urban local bodies of the State is a decades old issue which successive State governments have swept under the carpet since Goa attained statehood in 1987.
However, Rane reigniting the debate now has raised eyebrows as it comes at a time when a row has erupted after his initiative through the Director of Municipal Administration put a spoke in the recruitment process started by the Margao Municipal Council.
The council in Margao is ruled by a faction owing allegiance to former chief minister Digambar Kamat, a recent re-entrant to the ruling BJP fold.
Rane said, the issue of a common cadre is pending for a very long time and needs to be implemented immediately.
"Unless this decision is taken there will be no recruitment in any of the Municipalities," he said, adding that it is needed to stem bureaucratic monopoly and improve efficiency in the system.
“The objective is to align urban operations with the principles of the 74th Amendment,” Rane said.
