MARGAO
Revenue Minister Atanasio Monserrate's 'Nagarpalika Chalo' programme at the Margao Municipal Council predominantly attracted Margao city officials and representatives accompanying the Minister, rather than members of the public.
Instead of addressing pressing issues affecting the city, the council primarily discussed matters related to the pension scheme and an increase in honorarium for municipal councillors. A senior council member even expressed disappointment over the lack of sanctioned tours for council members during the current term.
Due to inadequate publicity regarding the Minister's visit, there was minimal public turnout, with the municipal hall mainly occupied by councillors, municipal staff, including workers, and officials from various departments accompanying the Minister.
In fact, Monserrate was taken aback when he had to field only 2-3 questions during the interaction, maintaining that the objective of the government at the doorstep will be achieved only through public participation and feedback from the public. Realisation later dawned that there were hardly any members of the public in the Municipal hall to raise questions.
Upon arrival at the civic body building, Monserrate along with Margao MLA Digambar Kamat proceeded directly to the chamber of Margao civic chief Damu Shirodkar. During the interaction, a couple of councillors raised the question of pension for the councillors and a hike in the honorarium.
They pointed out that while MLAs enjoy pensions, there’s no such provision made for municipal councillors. In fact, a councillor was heard calling for a hike in the honorarium in view of rising expectations from the people for donations.
Monserrate politely replied to the councillors that he could at the most take up the matter of pension with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, saying the issue falls in the domain of Urban Development Minister Vishwajit Rane.
After Monserrate along with Kamat made his presence felt in the municipal hall for the interaction, he received just two or three questions, including a question from ex-councillor Ketan Kurtarkar over the absence of land to dump debris and dry waste and a query from councillor Sadanand Naik seeking garbage bins for the households.
