PANAJI: CCP Mayor Uday Madkaikar and ruling corporators on Thursday gheraoed CCP commissioner Shashank Tripathy demanding control over distribution of labour and machinery for pre-monsoon cleaning work.
The Commissioner, however, said that he will start duct cleaning and pre-monsoon work in a systematic fashion with the help of engineers and staff.
“There were allegations that some wards were discriminated for pre-monsoon works. Considering this feedback, the pre-monsoon work schedule which is already planned will be displayed on the board. All cleaning staff along with supervisors and engineers will be distributed equally in all wards and work will be carried out in a systematic fashion,” Commissioner Shashank Tripathi told the media.
Despite being gheraoed, the Commissioner was firm on his stand.
Another contention of the mayor was that at the committee meeting, the Commissioner didn’t raise the point that Imagine Smart City projects should be completed before April 30 and the collector has already given permission for road digging till May 20.
The Commissioner however clarified that road digging permission has been granted till May 15 by the District Level Road Digging Co-ordination Committee, and that he will see to it that all roads are tarred before the monsoon season begins.
Madkaikar however, claimed that 15 days are not enough to repair the roads and warned the Commissioner that he would be to blame if the city gets waterlogged due to non-completion of pre-monsoon work.
On Thursday, Madkaikar in his own capacity directed the CCP labour along with truck driver to carry out pre-monsoon work in 3 to 4 wards, but the CCP commissioner called off the staff as he had different plans.
The Commissioner also initiated action against a supervisor for disobeying his orders and directed all staff not to follow the Mayor's instructions and to follow procedure instead.
Meanwhile, Madkaikar, in his personal capacity on Wednesday night, stopped digging work of a footpath from Miramar to Bal Bhavan under the smart city project. He even confiscated the tools used by the smart city project contractor.
“The Commissioner is bypassing my instructions and is allowing work to go on. He is disobeying an elected public representative,” an aggrieved Madkaikar said.
