Team Herald
MARGAO: Even as the new Chairperson to lead the Margao Municipal Council is yet to be elected, Madgaonkars say that the councillors should possess an independent sense of judgement, thought and vision for the city, rather than blindly follow the instructions of the leaders of the two panels within the civic body.
The Directorate of Municipal Administration has scheduled the election for September 16, but Model Margao, the panel backed by MLA Digambar Kamat is facing a tough time to get the required support from other councillors.
Advocate Snehal Onskar told Herald that the occupation of the MMC Chairpersons’ position by rotation is new neither to Margao nor to the
other municipal councils across Goa.
“However, what we expect from the Chairpersons, is that they should also possess their independent sense of judgment, thought and vision for Margao. Sadly, we find our Chairpersons exclusively listening to ‘their master’s voice’, rather than the voice of the people,”
she said.
Savio Coutinho, the former MMC Chairperson, said that while the Margao MLA could at any moment defect from the Congress and jump into the BJP, he would obviously look for a Chairperson who would follow him into the saffron party without hesitation.
“Both the alliance partners, the Fatorda Forward and Model Margao panels supported each other in their individual causes, be it the Waste Collection contracts, Sopo Collection contracts, Bio Remediation and allied contracts at Sonsodo, BS4 engine trucks purchase or the Bio Rickshaw purchase. And the BJP government in power, in what appears to be a tacit understanding, prefers to remain mute spectators to all the wrongdoings of this Council, by not taking any action despite several complaints,” said Coutinho.
