Team Herald
MARGAO: The Margao municipal workers called off their strike on Thursday after Sanitary Inspector Viraj Arabekar and the civil society trio accused of assaulting him withdrew their complaints against each other. However, Arabekar has landed in another controversy after an activist claimed the former was not relieved from his duties at the district collectorate.
Meanwhile, Urban Development Minister Francis D’Souza brushed off all responsibility in the MMC crisis and stated that the government couldn’t interfere in the MMC’s functioning. While calling it a “political chaos”, he said, “The election is the best way to create a change. It is for the people to decide and get a new panel elected.”
Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardessai criticized Arabekar’s alleged assailants and called them uncivilized. He also vowed to attend the council meetings to ensure that similar acts against MMC workers were not repeated.
“If such attacks on municipal employees continue, no one will wish to work with MMC. It is MMC’s obligation to protect the workers, and I will come to the meet next time to ensure there is law and order. I also assure to look into all the demands of the MMC workers, including security issues,” said Sardesai, who requested the agitating workers to end the strike in the interest of the public, which had been troubled by garbage issues.
On the other hand, the civil society criticized the strike as it held the people for ransom. Ethel Lobo, one of Arabekar’s alleged assailants, said she had
withdrawn the complaint in the interest of the public.
While terming the strike as unnecessary, activist Auda Viegas said, “Former Chief Officer Deepali Naik was also blocked and stopped by means of a strike. Isn’t that wrong? This crowd has made a personal issue into an unnecessary strike, which has troubled the people.”
Former MMC Councillor Piedade Noronha also criticized the strike. He said, “The town stinks since garbage is not collected for two days. The fact is, we pay their salaries, but the council is bothered about the workers rather than supporting the people.”
Margao Police Inspector C L Patil assured the employees that he would control such incidents in the future.
Meanwhile, activist Sanjiv Raiturkar claimed that Arabekar and another MMC employee Dilip Khanapurkar had not been relieved from their duties in the district collectorate. He said, “Viraj and Dilip were previously transferred from MMC to the collectorate and now back to MMC. I am sure they haven’t been relieved from the services at the collectorate. It amounts to non-obedience of duties and attracts the punishment of imprisonment and a fine too.”
