Staff Reporter

Margao

While the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) is dithering on acting against the operator of the two bio-clean multi-utility e-vehicles to whom the MMC had paid `8 lakh for cleaning the Margao and Fatorda footpaths, dividers and public toilets, the operator surprisingly is found to have issued instruction not to clear the cheque which he had given to the MMC as security towards his service.

The said e-rickshaws had hardly been used for three days – two days for demonstration and one day for cleaning some areas of Margao, after their purchase on August 11, 2022 to be launched on August 15. Then they were kept idle by the operator with whom the MMC had signed a contract for two years. The operator had cited difficulty in finding two local employees to carry out the work – one on each e-rickshaw.

The e-rickshaws were for some time parked in front of the MMC building and later taken to the garage. They laid there for a couple of months before they were shifted elsewhere by the civic body. These e-vehicles which were purchased by the MMC to clean the Margao and Fatorda are gathering dust, draining down the taxpayers money by the MMC.

The issue was also raised in the MMC meeting. The chairperson Shirodkar explained that the operator was sick and hence the civic body had given him some time to put the e-rickshaws to use. It is pertinent to note that the former chief officer Rohit Kadam had paid the Mumbai-based agency (operator) `eight lakh well in advance even before completing the codal formalities.

“RTI information sought by me clearly indicates that claiming the refund from the defaulting agency is not possible as the agency operator has given instructions to the bank not to clear the cheques obtained by the MMC as security deposit from the agency operator,’’ said former MMC chairperson Savio Coutinho.

In this situation, the civic body is likely to lose another `8 lakh for negligence on its part. If any sympathies the elected council wanted to show towards the defaulting agency, then the council has to pay to the MMC. The bankrupt MMC is not here to do charity work,” he said.