27 Jul 2021  |   06:38am IST

Councillors should be made accountable for swindling MMC: ACB

RTI information gathered by the SCM had exposed how a dustbin room in the works file turned out into an office with air-conditioner, vitrified flooring, kitchen platform, false ceiling, and an electrical connection, at the site
Councillors should be made accountable  for swindling MMC: ACB

MARCOS GONSALVES

[email protected]


MARGAO: The inquiry reports of Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) have recommended that the councillors need to be made accountable for apparently swindling Margao Municipal Council (MMC) money with inappropriate allocation or on forge projects and now not only the Shadow Council for Margao, who exposed the biggest nexus of MMC, but the citizens too demand that the money to be recovered from the concerned councillors. 

The concerned authorities need to take suo-motu cognizance of the matter and initiate further action against the officers and concerned Councillors, citizens demanded. 

This is not the only alleged scam of the Margao Municipality and the number is much more than what is seen. For example, the RTI information gathered by the SCM had exposed how a dustbin room in the works file turned out into an office with air-conditioner, vitrified flooring, kitchen platform, false ceiling, and an electrical connection, at the site. But when exposed through the media all disappeared overnight. But sadly, neither the concerned ward councillor nor any other person was punished for this fraud. 

Speaking to Herald Savio Coutinho, Convenor of SCM,  said, "In spite of their frauds being exposed, it seemed to hardly matter to the outgoing Council, which incidentally had godfathers who didn't seem to be bothered about this loot and plunder their Councillors were indulging in", he stated. 

As, such they attempted this mega scam of fraudulent tenders worth over Rs 2.5crore 95 per cent of these works now stand established as manipulated and bogus, he alleged. 

Savio further alleged that crores and crores of precious public funds have been squandered by the previous Council on various types of scams, but existing law couldn't do much about this. "They made a huge hole at the bottom of the Municipal treasury, and the taxpayers' money continues to still drain out/drained into the pockets of unscrupulous people", he added. 

A few major dents to the MMC treasure are the Rs25 lakh monthly payment to Contractor's/workers for door-to-door collection of segregated waste, which wet waste sadly doesn't yield a single kilogram of compost. For example, the arbitrary release of payments towards instalments amounting to nearly Rs crore to the Fomento Company, even as MLA Vijay Sardessai himself declared that no work was happening at Sonsoddo. The shocking decision of the Chairperson/Chief Officer to pay Fomento Rs. 1 lakh per day for handling the waste at Sonsoddo, after the letter of termination was served by the company. This daily Rs1 lakh payment went on for nearly a year, and even though over Rs 3crore were paid to Fomento, no compost was derived from the wet waste supplied (meaning no treatment), and eventually, the MMC was additionally billed another 85 lakh for the removal and disposal of the same waste lying in the shed.

SCM informed that over Rs26 lakh of Renerzyme was purchased, supposedly for Sonsodo fire extinguishing; however without any certification from the fire department. The 20 cans that were remaining are still lying at Sonsodo, instead of being returned. Nearly 7 lakhs would have been saved if they were returned. 

"All this wastage of public funds needs to be probed thoroughly and the responsibility deserves to be fixed equally on the elected body as well, since all these sins of omissions and commissions, always are accompanied by the resolution of the elected Council," said Savio. 

Radha Kavlekar said that taxpayers continue to pay taxes on one hand and MMC continues to pay bills towards works supposedly executed. "In reality, hardly any noticeable development can be seen, despite the crores claimed being spent on developing the city," she said. 

According to the opinion of Eduardo Lourenco, Businessman, “People of Margao and more specifically from Sirvodem are shocked when we came to know about the Rs 12.35 lakhs worth drain which was proposed opposite Raviraj Hotel by the Ex-councillor, at a place where a Nallah already exists.” 

"Due to the pandemic situation, all of us self-employed people are trying hard to clear our dues towards electricity/water bills, staff payments, Municipal taxes, etc. Hardly any savings remain after all these payments, on account of the Lockdown. And finally, we find the Councillors having very scant respect towards the taxes we pay", said Orlando Pacheco citizens of Margao. 

He said that the Council finds it difficult to give concessions of the trade/Sanitation taxes they are supposed to pay without operating our businesses, but spare no opportunity to squander/misappropriate our money.

When Herald contacted two former Councillors of MMC, they both refused to comment on the issue; instead, they blamed the officers of the council. 


IDhar UDHAR

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