Team Herald
CUNCOLIM: The five opposition councillors of the Cuncolim Municipal Council (CMC) have condemned the ruling group’s act of suspending opposition councillor Polita Carneiro, which they claimed was illegal and made out of frustration.
At a press briefing on Wednesday, opposition councillors Ashok Fadte, Videsh Dessai, Premdeep Dessai, Kiran Naik and Polita Carneiro refuted the ruling group’s allegation that Carneiro had abused the CMC Chairperson, which was the ground for her suspension.
They also termed the CMC meet on Monday as “unauthorized and illegal” and alleged that a person who claimed to be the PA of Chairperson Lavita Mascarenhas had abusing the opposition councillors because they had decided to boycott the meet.
“The PA was responsible for the argument, whereas the opposition had peacefully walked out of the meet as the CO was not present and their demand to postpone the meet was not considered. It was the chairperson’s so-called PA who used abusive language, not me,” said Carneiro.
The opposition councillors also objected to the ruling group’s demand to transfer CO Pandharinath Naik. They claimed that the ruling group’s allegation of Naik being a corrupt officer was fabricated and made out of revenge.
“CO Naik is an upright officer. Since he does not allow illegalities and corrupt practices, he has been targeted by the ruling group,” said Fadte, while Dessai added, “We won’t allow the DMA to transfer a dedicated and upright officer for malicious reasons.”
The opposition stated that they had met DMA Elvis Gomes and briefed him on what happened at Monday’s council meet, and he had promised to look into the incident. They further said that they had met MLA Rajan Naik and briefed him about the matter.
The councillors further said that they are ready to have a meeting with the ruling group to discuss development work, but they would not tolerate “autocratic” behaviour from the ruling group.
They also alleged that the vice-chairperson is accepting files but not returning the same, and that the chairperson, vice-chairperson and Councillor Shashank Dessai hold private conversations with parties asking for various permissions and even carried out inspections themselves.
