TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: This might certainly raise eyebrows at a time when the government has been moving with alacrity to initiate probes by the Vigilance or Anti-Corruption Bureau into the functioning or works carried out by local bodies.
The government and the Urban Development Ministry headed by Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza did not deem fit to order a full-fledged probe into Margao Municipal Council’s controversial e-tender when preliminary inquiries by the civic body and later by the PWD has confirmed duplication in some of the works.
Instead of an inquiry, the office of the Director of Municipal Administration (DMA) has bifurcated the tendered works already executed by the agencies, with a direction to the civic body to take up works which have not been executed by any other agency.
In fact a letter from the DMA has asked the Margao civic body to go ahead with the 18 tendered works and scrap the remaining three works which stand executed on the ground.
Sources in the Margao civic body expressed surprise over the government’s stand on the controversial e-tender. “In case of Margao Municipality, the government did not deem fit to order any inquiry. It is indeed surprising that the government has relied on the report from the very MMC Chief Officer who had floated the e-tender despite protests from the city fathers. An independent inquiry would have helped to bring many facts to light”, remarked a lower-ranked civic official.
However, though the government has given the civic body the go-ahead signal to execute the 18 tendered works, the latter would have to wait till May 16 since it cannot issue work orders in view of the election code of conduct.
The civic body had witnessed uproar over the controversial e-tender when it floated the same in September last year despite protests by opposition councillors
for including works in the tender already executed in their wards.
The government and the Urban Development Ministry headed by Dy CM Francis D’Souza did not deem fit to order a full-fledged probe into MMC’s controversial e-tender when preliminary inquiries by the civic body and later by the PWD has confirmed duplication in some of the works
