MARGAO
In a development which goes on to show that all is not well with the Sonsodo waste imbroglio, the head of the Disputes Redressal Forum Pramod Kamat (retired district judge) constituted under the Concession Agreement between the Margao Municipal Council and Sociedade Fomento Industrial to resolve disputes arising between the two parties has quit the panel.
Kamat, who has been heading the three-member DRF since it was constituted in 2017 to resolve the disputes arising between the Margao Municipal Council and Sociedade Fomento Industrial running the Sonsodo waste treatment plant, has sent in his resignation letter to the Margao Municipal Council. Ernest Moniz and Mahendra Caculo are the other two members nominated on the panel.
In his letter addressed to the MMC, Kamat has pointed out there’s been no follow-up action to the decisions taken by the panel at its three meetings held last year. The Disputes Redressal Forum had held three meetings in 2018 in the month of May, August and December over the dispute arising out of the delay by the civic body to clear the installments due to Fomento.
That Kamat has stated in his resignation letter that there’s been no follow-up on the issues indicates that he was not happy with the way things have been moving on the Sonsodo front.
Incidentally, he has asked the civic body to clear the fees due to him. If sources are to be believed, Fomento has claimed that it had on its part cleared the fees payable to the head of the panel. It is still not clear how much money the civic body has to pay to Kamat and his team .
The Disputes Redressal Forum comprising of Pramod Kamat, Ernesto Moniz (chartered engineer, MMC’s nominee) and Mahendra Caculo (civil engineer, Fomento’s nominee) was constituted under Article 14.1 of the Concession Agreement.
Sources said the DRF which met on April 28, 2018, in an attempt to resolve the issues, directed the payment of Rs four crore by way of an interim payment of the amount due to Fomento under the Concession Agreement.
The DRF met again on May 5, 2018, wherein the directions issued on April 28 were reiterated.
Incidentally, on July 16, 2018, the MMC made an interim payment of only Rs 2.40 crore after deducting TDS of Rs 7.20 lakh and further amount was not paid to Fomento despite the DRC’s direction to pay Rs four crore.
