MARGAO
Call it red tape, apathy or simply administration moving at a snail’s pace, the Margao Municipal Council has been caught napping when the issues at hand call for pro-active role by the civic body.
Three clear instances, all relating to vehicles worth lakhs of rupees, have come to light wherein the Municipal Council and the Administration have come under the lens, with no decisions forthcoming in stopping the precious tax payers’ money from going waste. The two BS4 compliant trucks, costing around Rs 37 lakh, have been lying stranded in the Municipal garage for close to two years for want of registration.
That’s not all. The two e-rickshaws, costing Rs 8 lakh, seemed to have met a similar fate, with the vehicles, instead of cleaning the pavements and footpaths, are gathering dust at the Municipal garage.
The over decade-old dog catching van, which broke down on December 26 last is also lying in the Municipal garage for want of a decision on its maintenance.
Just an insight into these vehicles would reveal that the Municipality has not been pro-active in bringing these vehicles on the roads, as a result of which they lay stranded in the municipal garage.
E-rickshaws: Civic body’s eerie silence on recovery of payments raises eyebrows
The Margao Municipal administration has been exposed hollow on the e-rickshaws costing Rs 8 lakh after it became evident the civic body did not comply with the mandatory codal formalities before roping in the agency. What, however, has raised many an eyebrow is the MMC’s eerie silence in initiating proceedings in the recovery of the Rs 8 lakh from the private agency.
For, while the agency has instructed the bank from making the payments to the Margao Municipal Council, with the bank returning back the cheque to the civic body, there seemed no action forthcoming from the MMC to recover the amount.
Inquiries by The Goan have revealed that the cheque returned by the bank is lying in the treasury since September. It’s not almost four months since the cheque is in possession of the civic body, but questions are being raised in the corridors of the civic body why is the Municipal administration dragging its feet to initiate legal action in the matter.
Incidentally, the e-rickshaw project, which was implemented by the civic body to clean the city footpath and pavements, sans floating tenders, was awarded to the agency without insisting on the performance guarantee. “We have been told that the cheque has been lying with the Cash section since it was returned back by the bank in September. Four months have passed, but there’s no action from the civic body till date,” remarked an official.
BS4 trucks: Vehicles yet to be registered
