When it comes to boxing...errr shadow-boxing, Mapusa’s city fathers and mothers cannot be beaten.
Plans of the Mapusa municipal Chairperson Shubanghi Vaigankar to hold a foundation stone laying programme on her birthday fell flat after it turned out to be a ‘pain in the neck’ literally for local MLA Joshua D’Souza.
D’Souza actually developed a pain in the neck forcing Vaigankar to call off her plans and cancel the even at the eleventh hour.
The stone laying programme to restart work on the renovation of the old municipal building and house a public library had been fixed for Tuesday (Dec 6) at 10 am. Minister for Urban Development Vishwajit Rane and Mapusa MLA Joshua D’Souza, who is also Deputy Speaker were to grace it.
But minutes before the event could start on that day, a message was circulated that Mapusa MLA was unwell and therefore the function has been postponed. Later it was revealed the MLA had sprained his neck and developed flu symptoms.
However, the twist to the tale was is in the Chairperson’s act of planning and then chalking out the entire schedule, all in a day’s work by herself. None of the other city fathers and mothers were taken into confidence. Even those known to be close to her were kept in the dark.
An invitation of the programme was circulated online on the previous evening which upset most and some even went about drumming support for a boycott. It gave the disgruntled councilors new ammunition and they also passed on their message to the local MLA.
There you go. The otherwise young and fit Joshua promptly developed a ‘pain in the neck’ which his supporters in the Mapusa civic body are constantly proving to be, leading to the programme being put off.
