Team Herald
SANGUEM: Facing the tremendous heat from residents and former councillors Sandesh Kossambe and Sanjay Raikar, the Sanguem Municipal Council cancelled the tender process inviting tenders for seven municipal-owned shops.
The tender process drew falk from locals, who demanded the scrapping of the closed tender process and instead opt for an open tender where everyone interested in the bidding process gets an opportunity to participate.
Deeply aggrieved with the closed tender process, the locals urged the Chief Officer to resort to open tender as this will not only lead to any doubts among the locals but will also enable the Council to get maximum benefits from the rented shops.
Former councillors Sanjay Raikar and Sandesh Kossambe along with Josinho D’Costa kept the Chief Officer on his toes till the time he acceded to their request and cancelled the tender.
Former councillor Sandesh Kossambe informed that the closed tender process followed by the Council allegedly facilitates certain individuals in getting the shops allocated at a preferential rent as the tenders remain in exclusive custody of the Council. However, if the tender is held openly everyone gets an opportunity to place their bids and in return the municipality also ends up in getting higher revenue towards rental charges, claimed Kossambe.
Anthony Vaz called on the municipality to publish the tender dates well in advance and also display the same at prominent places in the town area besides sending individual letters to participants of the tenders which was supposed to be held last week.
