Team Herald
MARGAO: A group of Margao citizens has expressed doubts about the legitimacy of the High Powered Coordination Committee (HPCC) meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday. The Shadow Council for Margao (SCM) has questioned the HPCC’s validity and its repeated failures, given that it has had four different Chief Ministers at the helm over the years, with no tangible results to show.
Savio Coutinho, Convenor of SCM, claimed that the HPCC was initially formed in 2010 during the tender process that awarded the Sonsoddo remediation work to Fomento. However, with Fomento’s exit, the committee became defunct. Under the alibi that the MMC did not have the powers to scrutinise and decide on awarding work orders, this committee was constituted by then CM Digambar Kamat, with the sole intention of awarding the work to a particular agency, which actually did not qualify in the bidding process, he alleged.
Coutinho, accompanied by other SCM members, drew attention to the committee’s misleading nature. “The committee’s formation was initially linked to setting up Solid Waste Management facilities. However, the recent meeting chaired by CM Pramod Sawant contradicts its very purpose. It is evident that the decisions made are contrary to the committee’s mandate. Despite crores of rupees spent, the HPCC has accomplished nothing substantial, leaving Margao in a perpetual mess,” he added.
