TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Saying that he personally favours elevating the status of the A Class Municipalities of Margao and Mormugao to Corporations a la Panjim, Urban Development Minister, Francis D’Souza on Saturday said the government would table a Bill in the ongoing session of the State Assembly to hold municipal election on party lines.
He, however, said the government would not bulldoze with the proposal to hold municipal polls on party lines, but will send the Bill to Select Committee to invite objections and suggestion before arriving at a final decision.
“Let us wait and see whether the coming municipal polls will be held on party lines or not,” was how D’Souza reacted when specifically asked on the subject, while making it known that a Bill will be tabled in the ongoing session of the Assembly.
Asserting that elections on party lines would check instability in the civic bodies, D’Souza quipped, “Certainly, election on party lines would stop constant change in chairpersons. Certainly, there won’t be new chairpersons every 15 days.”
On increasing the number of municipal wards as demanded by a number of civic bodies, D’Souza said the government would set in motion the process of removing the glaring discrepancies in the constitution of the municipal wards via rationalisation. “The process will be set in motion immediately and will be completed before next year’s municipal polls. The question of increasing the wards will be looked into during this process,” he said, while saying that he personally favours granting the status of Corporation to Margao and Mormugao.
On common cadre for municipal employees, D’Souza said that the government would first put in order the common cadre introduced for the municipal engineers and accountants. He denied that the government has no will to introduce common cadre for the municipal employees, saying that the common cadre for the engineers and accountants needs to be first put in order.
MMC snubbed over grants request
The Margao Municipal Council on Saturday was snubbed by the government when it asked for financial assistance to fund developmental projects. Urban Development Minister, Francis D’Souza was quick to tell the city fathers to first recover the huge outstanding tax arrears pegged over Rs 10 crore before seeking any government grant. D’Souza snubbed the civic body’s request for developmental grant when former MMC chairperson Arthur D’Silva pleaded for funds and manpower to usher in the city’s development. The Urban Development Minister appeared unconvinced by the request put forth by the former chairperson as he point blank told the city fathers and babus to first recover the arrears and then come to the government for financial assistance. The government stand assumes significance as it comes in the wake of the municipal arrears crossing the Rs 10 crore mark last month. Sources in the civic body informed that the figure may rise further with the civic body utterly failing to put any mechanism in place to recover the huge arrears.
