MARGAO
In another setback to the Margao Municipal Council on the Sonsodo front, a member of the Disputes Redressal Committee constituted under the Concession Agreement between the civic body and Sociedade Fomento Industrial to resolve all disputes relating to Sonsodo, has quit as member of the three-member panel.
The resignation of engineering consultant and registered valuer, Ernesto Moniz from the panel has come close on the heels of the Chairman of the Committee, Pramod Kamat (retired district Judge), quitting the panel. In his resignation letter, Engineer Ernesto Moniz said he has decided to discontinue being a member of the committee after finding there has been very little progress in the functioning of the panel.
“At the request of the Chairperson of the Council, Dr Babita Prabhudesai, I had agreed to be nominated on the Disputes Redressal Committee. After finding that there has been very little progress in the functioning of the committee, I have decided to discontinue being member of the committee,” Moniz said, while asking the civic body to treat the letter as his resignation with immediate effect.
Engineer Moniz has been a member of the Disputes Redressal Committee nominated by the Margao Municipal Council. That the civic body had delayed in the payment of his fees was evident by the fact that Moniz has requested the Municipality to settle his bills dated May 2, 2018 and September 20, 2018 at the earliest. Incidentally, the Margao Municipal Council had failed to clear the bills of DRF President Pramod Kamat was as evident by the fact that the retired Judge had requested the civic body to settle his dues.
Following the resignation by Pramod Kamat as head of the DRC and now by DRC member Engineer Ernesto Moniz, the Margao Municipal Council finds itself in a tight spot in addressing the issues pertaining to the Sonsodo waste treatment plant.
It is not yet clear whether the Municipal officials will make any attempt to approach both Pramod Kamat and Ernesto Moniz to reconsider their decision to resign from the DRC. MMC officials in the know were trying to figure out whether the MMC can reconstitute the DRC now given that the election code of conduct has come into force and whether the election code will have any bearing on the administrative matter.
A week ago, the head of the DRC Pramod Kamat had quit the panel saying 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.
The Disputes Redressal Committee comprising of Pramod Kamat, Ernesto Moniz (Chartered Engineer, MMC’s nominee) and Mahendra Kakule (Civil Engineer, Fomento’s nominee) was constituted under Article 14.1 of the Concession Agreement between the civic body and Fomentos after the latter raised some issues, including non-payment of the dues.
