the goan I network
MARGAO
It’s official. Margao Municipal Councillor’s study tour to picturesque Diu will cost the Civic body a whopping Rs 5.5 lakh, but questions are being raised in the corridors of the civic body whether the Council has benefited in any manner after the City Fathers underwent the two-day training session on advanced technology on waste segregation.
The office of the Municipal Chief Officer Siddivinayak Naik told The Goan that the office has not received any report from the Municipal Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai or the team on the study tour report or the finer points of the waste sorting technology.
It’s now a fortnight since the City Fathers had returned from Diu after undergoing the two-day session, but officials are in the dark whether the Council intends to implement the advanced technology on waste sorting in Margao or whether the technology is suited to the needs and requirements of the commercial capital.
When The Goan called up Chairperson Babita Prabhudesdai to shed light on the Diu study tour and whether any report has been submitted to the Chief Officer as promised by her at the time of the tour, she replied saying that the report is being compiled by her office, adding that it will soon be submitted to the office of the Chief Officer for implementation.
Asked whether she feels that the advanced technology on waste sorting is suited to meet the requirements of the commercial capital which has been literally struggling to address the burning issue of waste segregation, Babita said, “I think the advanced technology will help the administration in addressing the issue. The matter will be discussed in detail with the Chief Officer.”
Inquiries by The Goan has revealed that the study tour is expected to cost the civic body a whopping Rs 5.5 lakh by way of TA and DA. While the flight bill is pegged at Rs 3.72 lakh, sources in the civic body has said the amount is not sanctioned yet for the simple reason that the administration is yet to receive the government nod.
What’s interesting to note is that the study tour was undertaken by the civic body without any official accompanying the team of councillors, raising many an eyebrow in the corridors of the civic body as to why the officials were not party to the tour.
The Margao Municipal Council has been literally struggling to find an answer to the burning issue of waste segregation as tons of unsegregated waste finds its way to the waste treatment plant everyday for want of any mechanism worth its name to segregate the waste at source.
