MMC approves Rs 66.37 cr budget for 2020-21

Margao: In the midst of  chaos  and without social distancing,  Margao  Municipal councillors  approved  the proposed Rs 66.37 crore  budget for the  financial year 2020- 2021 in the  council meeting held on Thursday.

The councilors proposed the expenditure for the next financial year as Rs 58.19 crore. Chairperson Pooja Naik chaired the meeting and most of the councilors attended it.

The  opposition  councillors  Ketan  Kurtarkar,  Arthur  D’Silva, Doris  Teixeira and  few others pointed out that the  sopo collector, appointed by the  council for the last financial year illegally collected money from the vendors in the market despite the fact that his agreement ended on March 31.

“We wanted to know who authorised the sopo collector to do this illegality. The chairperson must tell us whether action will be taken on this man. We want you to file a police complaint,’’ the councillors yelled charging one after another towards the chairperson. It was at this time, the norm of social distancing was thrown in the wind. The situation attracted the media to click the photographs.

The concerned officials tried to explain that the formalities of tendering the sopo contract were almost completed but due to the lockdown, the process has slowed down.  There were no takers to this statement, the angry councillors sought to know from the chairperson whether the sopo can be collected illegally during the lockdown.

The councillors also pointed out that there are a lot of outstanding bills of the  contractors  despite they completing the works.  The issue of effecting the payment for the Xerox machine also figured in the meeting.

Interestingly, the chief officer, Ajit Panchwadkar skipped the meeting forwarding a sick note; as a result, Gaurish Sankwalkar attended the meeting as a chief officer.  Panchwadkar was in the news recently for his reported case of molestation of a lady employee of the MMC and that efforts are now being made to settle the issue.

Chairperson Pooja Naik could not clearly state whether any police complaint as demanded by the councillors would be filed on the sopo collector for his illegality. I will discuss the issue with the chief officer, when he comes to the office and accordingly action will be taken on the sopo collector,’’ she added.