TEAM HERALD
VASCO: In a historic decision, the Mormugao Municipal Council cleared the long-pending proposal to prepare the City Development Plan (CDP) for Vasco. The Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies (RCUES) offered to provide consulting services for preparation of the plan and a survey of signboards for the council at a total cost of around Rs 15 lakh.
“Once the CDP is ready, then everything under Mormugao council will be planned for the future. This project was a long-pending project, but was cleared today, and soon we will have CDP for the city of Vasco,” said the former MMC chairman and present Councillor, Maneesh Arolkar.
The meeting began on a noisy note as the councillors from the ruling group and opposition jointly grilled chief officer J B Bingui and Chairperson Lavina D’Souza about the pre-monsoon works and labour shortage.
“I fear that my ward will face trouble during the rains. My only worry is that the council should not differentiate between the ruling group and opposition and should equally distribute the labourers in all 20 wards,” Councillor Neny D’Souza appealed to the two.
Other council members also raised similar apprehension. Bingui informed that the municipality was facing a labour shortage, due to which the council was unable to carry out pre-monsoon works.
“We can pay only Rs 350 per labourer per day for this specialised work (pre-monsoon works) and as the amount for such work is less, not many labourers – only 25 so far – are coming forward to enrol under contract. If council adopts any resolution then the same can be increased after approval of DMA” said Bingui.
The council also resolved to give its NOC for erecting 12 speed breakers within the municipal jurisdiction. “Considering the number of deaths that has been reported on the streets of Vasco at regular intervals, it is very important to erect more and more number of speed breakers besides making corrections on the existing ones,” said Sanjay Saterdekar.
Meanwhile, the cash-strapped council is set to organise its annual summer festival from May 2 to 9. The festival will have several entertainment events besides food stalls and games. This year’s theme is ‘Swacha Vasco – Nital Vasco.’
“The main idea behind organising this festival is to provide some entertainment through this annual event and to prove that such festivals definitely help in reviving the lost beauty of the beach,” said former chairperson and councillor, Shekhar Khadapkar, who is also the chairman of the organising committee for the summer festival.
