Margao municipal sweepers complain of broom shortage

MARGAO, OCT 20
Candidates contesting the ensuing polls for the Margao Municipal Council make promises galore to improve the civic amenities, one may say.
But, hold on. Wednesday saw Municipal sweepers bitterly complaining over shortage of brooms and baskets for the daily cleaning of the city.
In fact, agitated sweepers nearly threatened to strike work over the glaring shortage of sweepers and brooms — basic implements to clean the road sides and other public places.
Inquiries have revealed that the Civic body has stopped tendering the purchase of these items for quite some time and the items are procured from some retailers based on the requirements.
The sanitary section, when contacted, over the pathetic situation pushed the blame on the stores saying the responsibility of procuring brooms and baskets lies with the department.
General secretary of the Goa Municipal Employees Association Anil Shirodkar said a team of union members would call on the Chief Officer Prasanna Acharya and brief him about the situation. “You cannot expect the employees to put up good work when basic implements are not make available at their disposal”, he said.
This is not the first time that the Civic body has been found wanting to procure basic items required to maintain sanitation and health. Few months ago, Civic officials had informed City Fathers at a meeting that the Civic body could not carry out fogging and anti-larvae spraying for want of chemicals.