Team Herald
VASCO: The special meeting of Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) on Friday saw discussions on a various issues, including the weak financial position of MMC, the construction fees of Andrew’s Higher Secondary School, and the proposed draft delimitation of wards. The meeting turned noisy on several occasions.
Expressing serious concerns over the draft delimitation plan, a few councillors accused politicians of influencing officials to prepare a plan that would benefit their supporters and party workers. Councillor Saifullah Khan stated, “The process of delimitation was done only to ensure that there is uniformity of votes in each ward. After having a look at the draft plan, it is confirmed that there is no uniformity, and the same is done without any geographical study and under political pressure.”
Similar concerns were raised by councillors Fiola Rego, Neny D’Souza, Manish Arolkar and Vice Chairperson Tara Kerkar, after which Chief Officer (CO) Melvyn Vaz advised them that the proposal was yet to be finalized and any decision taken by the Council would have no importance. He added that the councillors could forward their objections to him and he would forward the same to the Director of Municipal Administration.
The councillors also had a heated debate on the proposal to waive the construction license fees of the new St Andrew’s Higher Secondary School building in Vasco. MMC Chairperson Lavina D’Souza informed that the Director of Education had asked the Council to take a fresh resolution for waiving off 100 percent of the construction licence and other fees.
“The council had taken a resolution to waive off 50 percent of the licence fees, but I don’t think that we should go give a 100-percent waiver as MMC’s financial condition is very weak. Such a blanket waiver for an educational institution will not benefit MMC,” said CO Vaz.
Supporting Vaz’s statement, vice chairperson Kerkar informed that the ongoing audit of accounts had already indicated a deepening crises as the outstanding dues were over Rs 10 crores. The Council later resolved to waive 100 percent of the fees and ask the government for reimbursement. Decisions on similar issues will be taken on a case-to-case basis.
In another major decision, MMC decided to regularize the services of 12 daily-wage workers. After considering the shortage of workers, it decided that the services of 37 other workers would be regularized in due time.
The councillors also expressed concern over the vacant post of ATO and the issue of pending developmental works due to the delay in receiving grants. Councillor Manish Arolkar said, “Mormugao councillors are lucky as their MLA is doing works for them, and thus, many of their work proposals had to be deleted. However, to our bad luck, the Vasco MLA is not doing any work and is not allowing us to do anything. People are questioning the councillors about the lack of development in the wards.”
A few councillors also objected to the installation of a giant wheel in the municipal garden during the Saptah celebration and alleged that other councillors were taking bribes from the giant-wheel operator. The proposal to reserve the new Vasco jetty for only fishing activities and to conduct regular cleanliness checks during the Saptah fair were also discussed at the meeting.
