Team Herald
MARGAO: After strong objections from citizens, the Margao Municipal Council on Friday rescheduled the controversial tender process for door-to-door waste collection in its jurisdiction.
As per the corrigendum issued by MMC Chief Officer Manuel Barretto, the last date for submission of applications has been pushed from February 24 to March 1 and the tender opening is fixed for March 3, instead of February 27.
It may be recalled that the Shadow Council for Margao had alleged that the tender process was rigged, and that a short notice tender was issued primarily to benefit the same old contractor.
“The vested interests tried their best to circumvent and flout the tender process to favour agencies that did not qualify, but all their desperate attempts failed, and yet, they are still shamelessly trying the same tricks again,” said Savio Coutinho, former MMC Chairperson.
It may be recalled that the waste collection contract was under severe criticism for the appointment of an agency without following codal formalities in October 2019, and granting it arbitrary extensions from November 2019 till today. The Shadow Council for Margao had been consistently raising this issue, which led the civic body to invite bids for door-to-door waste collection in May 2022.
SCM had also demanded that all the aspects of the scope of work should be made clear to the bidders so that there is no compromise in waste management.
