TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: After dilly dallying for over a fortnight, Margao Municipal Chairperson Arthur D’Silva on Monday finally signed the cheque of Rs 1.30 crore for payment to Fomento Green, but with a condition that all future payments to the company should be cleared by the civic body after discussions at the Standing Committee and Council meetings.
This morning, Arthur put his signature on the dotted line, over a fortnight after Chief Officer, Sandhya Kamat, had cleared the payments of Rs 1.30 crore.
Arthur told Herald that since Fomento Green has raised two bills of Rs 1.30 crore each, the civic body would clear the payments after discussions.
Incidentally, the civic body is yet to take a call on the appointment of a consultant to certify the bills. Ahmedabad-based waste management consultant, P U Asnani was scheduled to visit the Municipality on Saturday.
When contacted, Sandhya Kamat said that the civic body had invited Asnani to visit the Municipality after the High Powered Committee headed by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar directed the Municipality to engage him as a consultant for a year. Sources said it would be difficult to make payments to Fomento on the two bills in the absence of a consultant. “Payment of first installment did not require the nod of a consultant since the payment was co-terminus with the signing of the concession agreement,” remarked a civic official.
