MARGAO: The special meeting of Margao Municipal Council held on Friday witnessed heated discussions on some topics and it was decided to appoint the lone applicant as Swachh Bharat Mission coordinator even as some councillors alleged that it was a fixing and Chairperson Dr Babita Prabhudessai casting aspersions on the efficacy of the Director of Municipal Administration.
Dr Babita disclosed that only one person had applied for the post that required an engineer and offered a salary of Rs 15,000 per month. However, she added that the Director of Municipal Administration had agreed to increase the salary to Rs 30,000 per month.
This disclosure had many councillors up on their feet stating that the low salary must have stopped people from applying and now that the salary was increased there would be more applicants who needed to be given an opportunity.
Some councillors were heard stating that it appears that the council had probably decided who would be appointed and hence had released the misleading advertisement. However, the council then decided to appoint the lone applicant at a salary of Rs 15,000 per month and take a call on the matter after seeing her performance for a couple of months.
The council decided to tender the work of desilting all the drains in the municipal area jurisdiction instead of undertaking the work through council workers. It was decided to tender the work for Rs 25 lakh as going by past experience that much amount was required.
When Chief Officer Siddhivinayak Naik pointed out that Panjim has already started cleaning its drains, Dr Babita suggested that once the monsoons start in June or July another cleaning of drains be undertaken of the troublesome drains which she asked councillors to identify now so that 20 labourers could be engaged as disaster management team.
Councillors lamented that last year some of the works were not undertaken and urged the chairperson to ensure that estimates are submitted in time. Dr Babita disclosed that all matter has been referred to the Director of Municipal Administration where the matters are left hanging.
“How efficient is the functioning of the Director of Municipal Administration I cannot say as our files are left pending there,” she said.
