MARGAO
Hazard a guess on the status of the sweeping machine and tractor supplied by the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) to the Margao Municipal Council at a whopping cost of Rs 24 lakh?
Come Friday and the Margao Municipal Council will take a decision to proceed with the process of condemnation of the sweeping machine and tractor without using the machine and the tractor.
In fact, a decade and half after GSUDA had made available the sweeping machine and the tractor to the civic body to sweep and clean the city roads, the MMC will dispose of the machine and tractor after following the codal formalities.
The sweeping machines were procured by GSUDA during the Congress regime in 2007 and handed over to a couple of civic bodies by the government. The tractors were purchased by GSUDA months later after realisation dawned that the sweeping machines cannot by itself sweep the roads unless they are towed by a tractor.
Sadly, even after the tractors were purchased by the agency, it became clear that the sweeping machines were not suited for the city roads. Since then, the sweeping machine and the tractor were dumped at the old market garage before the civic body towed them to the Sonsodo yard as the garage faced space constraints and started gathering rust.
An MMC official informed that the sweeping machine was never used by the civic body on the city roads for the last 15 years. “This is a classic example of taxpayers money going down the drain. It is apparent that the GSUDA had purchased the machine without giving any thought whether these machines are suited for Goan roads or not. The MMC had never used the machine since it was procured by GSUDA. Each machine had cost the exchequer around Rs 19 lakh and another Rs 5 lakh on the tractor,” the official said, adding ‘it is indeed sad the sweeping machine is going for condemnation without being put to use’.
