The recent meetings of the Corporation of the City of Panaji are making headlines due to various reasons. The opposition councillors raise questions and their ruling counterparts along with the Mayor answer them. That is precisely how democracy works. However, the tone of the recent meetings have changed. The special meeting of CCP which was held on Monday revolved around the allegations levied by opposition councillors regarding pay parking scam. Councillor Surendra Furtado alleged that without discussing the matter in a meeting or floating a tender, CCP extended the pay parking contract.
The opposition demanded to know how the contractor has been collecting the money despite his contract expiring in August this year. Furtado alleged that the money collected as pay parking fees has gone into the pockets of the contractor instead of CCP’s coffers. Naturally, the Mayor was expected to respond to these allegations; however, the CCP Commissioner refuted the opposition’s claims regarding the scam on his behalf. Commissioner stated that the contractor’s extension of the contract for the period of next three years from August 2023 till August 2026, was done during a meeting held in January.
The contract which had received tenders from two companies was given to Zuwarkar Associates who had placed the highest bid of Rs 2.16 crore. The bid winner has deposited Rs 1.26 cr of bank guarantee and Rs 40 lakh in security deposit. Therefore according to the CCP Commissioner, the contractor has been collecting the parking fees before signing the contract. Furtado resisted this clarification. However, some things had to be viewed with a certain level of understanding. The bidder was expected to collect the money from August as in a way, his contract was already renewed. The formal procedure was not completed and the councillors objected to just that. This is what led to the current Mayor Rohit Monserrate trading charges with his former counterpart Surendra Furtado.
As per Mayor, the CCP had completed all the due procedures while Furtado objected to the contractor collecting money despite the contract’s expiration. In the fit of making points and counterpoints, nothing definite came out from the statements. Instead, Monserrate accused Furtado of not taking decisions which would benefit CCP when he was mayor. He alleged that the sopo fees during Ashtami fair were reduced from Rs 60 to Rs 20 per square metre causing financial loss to the Corporation. He accused Furtado of being the most corrupt Mayor of the CCP. He even went as far as stating that the decisions taken during Furtado’s tenure would be audited and a complaint would be filed with the Directorate of Vigilance. What should one make of this? Are those sitting in the opposition should not even raise relevant questions? This is a pattern that has developed in recent times especially on the government level. Whenever the government, be it at the State or Centre, is questioned, the ones in power will digress from the issue and will corner those who raised those questions instead. This is simply not right.
In a democracy, those in power are answerable to people because the elected ones are responsible for the well-being of the common men. Therefore, if the government is not doing anything or doing something that is objectionable then questioning them is the duty of the opposition. It is not right to question those whose very duty is to raise questions pertaining to people. BJP during PM Manmohan Singh-led rule constantly held the Congress party responsible for inflation be it the prices of onions, tomatoes or fuel. However, not once the saffron party showed readiness to discuss the inflation which is thrice now than when they were in opposition. Even when someone questions them, they turn the question around.
CCP is small in size and the questions raised by councillors must be answered properly. Some of the issues related to Panjim should be taken up for discussions as well. The National Theatre building, which is just a walking distance from CCP, lies in an abandoned state. The theatre was permanently closed after the expiration of its lease. This land belongs to CCP and the Corporation should think of rebuilding it as a centre for arts. People from Panjim have to wander around in search of cultural programmes and if the art centre becomes a reality, it would benefit local artisans as well as art lovers tremendously. CCP should ponder over things like these.
