Vijai Sardesai slaps phone out of babu’s hand

MARGAO: Deputy chief minister and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, on Monday, lost his cool with chief officer of the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) Siddhivinayak Naik. Sardesai slapped the civic official’s cellphone out of his hand and told him to “throw it away” even as he called him “useless”.
Late evening, following a furore on social media, the minister apologised saying they “were discussing a serious issue” and the ringing phone irritated him.
The incident occurred when Naik attempted to answer his cellphone when Sardesai and officials of MMC and Fomento Green Pvt Ltd were discussing issues plaguing the Sonsoddo.
A visibly agitated Sardesai slapped Naik’s hand causing the latter’s mobile phone to fall to the ground.
“Throw away your phone,” the GFP chief told Naik.
Even as Naik picked his phone off the ground, Sardesai further humiliated him saying, “You all can’t do any work. You are useless, your chairperson is useless.”
He also warned Naik of “removing” him from office if he failed to put things in order at the Sonsoddo garbage dump at the earliest.
The incident quickly went viral on social media with users slamming the minister for his behaviour.
In a statement issued late evening, Sardesai said, “We were discussing a very serious issue, which is a symbol of failure of the civic body and the administration and which pertains to the entire Salcete in general and my constituency of Fatorda in particular. I was irritated with the ringing phone when a topic of such seriousness was being discussed and for which, specifically, I had come to the site. I regret that I lost my cool and have expressed the same with MMC’s chief officer.”
Fomento Green is a venture of the Fomento group and is in charge of the waste management plant at Sonsoddo.
Sardesai’s visit to the site was to take stock of the situation following a notice to the MMC by Fomento Green Pvt Ltd in January for terminating the project.
Fomento Green Pvt Ltd had made known its displeasure over the failure of the MMC in honouring the payment schedule as detailed in the agreement inked with the MMC over the plant. The firm had also pointed out that in the absence of segregated waste, most of the mixed waste landing at Sonsoddo cannot be composted, thus rendering the plant unviable.