The newly elected Margao Municipal Council (MMC) might be in the honeymoon period but this may not last long as it has an uphill task ahead. The council has a major challenge to try and address key development issues like recovery of taxes, sort out pay parking issues, the municipal markets, an overhead tank for fire services and optimising garbage collection.
In addition to these major development agendas, there are other issues that the past civic body has failed to deliver such as providing support to the dog shelter and sorting out payments on time to the NGO or completing pre-monsoon works in time.
On the waste management front, the door-to-door garbage collection received a timely boost with the Directorate of Municipal Administration sending 100 bins of 240 litres capacity each. As per estimates, MMC has an immediate requirement of at least 600 waste bins. The 100 waste bins received will be distributed across the town, with four bins being placed at crucial areas of each ward.
MMC officials have pointed out that in the absence of bigger-sized bins, the self help groups currently engaged for door-to-door garbage collection, have to wait for the council to empty the waste and then go again for collection. In August 2014, MMC had asked for 1200 bins of 240 litres each, the remaining are at the tendering stage.
MMC currently has 25,000 smaller size waste bins and have been promised 5000 more such bins. There is another proposal worth Rs 2.7 crore that was also sent in August that includes new compactors, trucks, dumpers, gloves.
MMC’s dependence on the DMA for funds is a big concern as DMA and Urban Development ministry has repeatedly asked the council to create self-sustaining models of revenue generation. MMC, which is ‘A’ category council has huge tax arrears amounting to over Rs 10 crore and the dwindling revenue has almost left the civic coffers empty.
While the past council was more concerned with musical chairs, the only positive action towards tax revenue collection had been initiated by the former chief officer Naveen L S. However, while the new chief officer Y B Tawde has stated that the council has been working towards recovering of outstanding dues, MMC still has a long way to go before it can recover the outstanding tax and also look at targeting tax revenue sources they have ignored for the last few years.
The biggest issue facing MMC in concentrating its efforts on any task at hand is its ability to mobilise its workforce. This is needed for activities like tax collection as well as sorting out various problems affecting the municipal markets. Even before the council could be formed, the municipal employees had gone on strike and the residents of Margao were left doubting on the council’s ability to tackle the workers as the MLAs had to intervene to resolve the matter.
There are also allegations regarding corruption in the municipal administration and complaints have been sent to the Vigilance department.
More importantly, the council has to take firm action with regard to encroachments in the municipal markets as well as unchecked subletting of the municipal shops that the previous councils have failed to tackle. Traders on the other hand, have been demanding better infrastructure at the market and for issues like pay parking to be implemented to make navigation in and out of the markets easier.
The biggest fear in the markets is the lack of fire safety measures and the recent fire at the Bank of India exposed how the municipality has dragged its feet on the issue.
After a major fiasco where the site for the overhead water tank was the same proposed for a pay parking building. The civic body officials, market vendors and PWD officials held a meeting and decided to re-draw the plan for the tank and accommodate it in the Gandhi Market. None of the fire hydrants in the town are functional as they require to be connected to the overhead water tank.
The council had embarrassed itself by laying the foundation stone for the pay parking project at the pickup stand area in haste only for the government to issue clarifications about the same the next day.
There are currently two proposals for pay parking facilities that had recently received a nod from the civic body following Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) presentations. GSUDA had said that the files are waiting certain clearances from other government departments; they blamed the council for delaying in sending the resolution. The twin proposals are opposite the KTC bus stand on the land acquired by the MMC and the pickup stand area.
