TEAM HERALD
OLD GOA: Attempts by the Merces panchayat to dispose off the condemned Maruti Omni Ambulance van has hit a roadblock due to procedural lapses.
The window glass of the vehicle are already broken and Merces Sarpanch Walter D’Sousa now fears that anti-social elements could further damage the vehicle.
The van donated to the panchayat under MPLAD scheme in 1998, lies abandoned and is unnecessarily occupying space near the panchayat.
Speaking to Herald, Sarpanch D’Sousa informed that the panchayat had written to the North Goa collector, seeking permission to dispose off the vehicle on July 1.
“Later, the panchayat got a technical certificate from the ITI certifying that the vehicle is condemned,” said D’Sousa, while stating that the upset price had been fixed at Rs 20500.
“The certificate was then forwarded to the Collector’s office on August 3, so that the process for disposing off the vehicle by public auction could start.”
“However, three months have passed and now, I am told that the lone bidder who had submitted the bid did not sign the bid document. The entire procedure has to be repeated afresh due to this minor lapse,” said the sarpanch.
“Such delays will prove detrimental as anti-social elements have already broken the glasses of the vehicle and they are bound to further damage the vehicle if it is not disposed off at the earliest,” opined D’Sousa.
When contacted, a source inside the Collector’s office admitted that there was a lapse as the lone bid was accepted without the bidder’s signature.
“Due to this minor lapse, we will now have to repeat the entire procedure of conducting a public auction and it could take another 1-2 months to complete the process,” the source further added.
