Vijai targets 'comatose' Margao council as Goa Forward begins poll campaign

The Goa Forward Party team, led by president Vijai Sardesai, during the launch of 'Chaka Chak 3.0' drive in Fatorda.

MARGAO
The Goa Forward Party has formally kicked off its election campaign for the Margao Municipal polls scheduled in May, with party supremo Vijai Sardesai launching a scathing attack on the BJP-controlled Margao civic body and giving a call to the people of Margao, Fatorda and Housing Board to defeat puppets fielded by ministers and elect hard-working candidates.
While launching the Chaka Chak 3.0 cleanliness campaign in Fatorda from the party headquarters Goemkar Ghor on Wednesday, the Goa Forward chief said the MMC has been in a state of coma for the last 2-4 months. Accusing the civic body of acting as a post office, Sardesai said what the civic body is doing at the moment on waste management is packing the segregated waste collected by the agencies Bapu Engineering and Green Globe and transporting the waste to the Cacora waste management plant for treatment. “This only goes to show that the civic body is not involved in the treatment of waste collected in the city,” he said.
Pointing out that the Rs 7.5 crore gasification plant installed by the civic body at Sonsodo is yet to receive the Consent to Establish nod from the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), Sardesai wondered what purpose the gasification plant will serve in the city when the waste-collecting contractors are collecting segregated waste from households. “They say the gasification plant is installed to treat mixed waste. But the MMC is spending crores of rupees on waste collection so that the contractors send segregated waste to Sonsodo,” he added.
Launching a tirade against the ruling BJP Council, Sardesai said the LDC jobs have been distributed among the councillors, saying the kith and kin of the ruling councillors have benefited from the jobs.
Saying the opposition is in the dark over the delimitation and reservation of municipal seats, Sardesai charged that only the ruling party leaders are aware of the wards and seats that would be reserved for the ST, OBC and women candidates.
While making an appeal to self-respecting people of Margao, Fatorda and Housing Board to reject puppets fielded by the ruling politicians, Sardesai said the Chaka Chak campaign will help clean up the wards before the coming monsoon. “We are forced to take up the Chaka Chak campaign for the third consecutive year since the MMC has been falling short in maintaining cleanliness in the wards,” he added.