With barely 10 months remaining for the council election, the MMC has seen six chief officers, while the seventh is on its way. The council has also seen five different chairpersons and the sixth chairperson is on the way.
Outgoing chief officer Megnath Porob was the choice of the councillors over Sunil Masurakar, who was earlier declared as the chief officer of MMC. However, the recent transfer order has miffed the councillors, who now plan to meet Chief Minister Laximikant Parsekar to know the reason behind Porob’s transfer.
Sources in MMC said they took up the transfer issue with Power Minister Milind Naik and Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida and tried to stop the transfer. However, both the MLAs informed them that they are not aware of the transfer.
“Surprisingly, if they are not aware of the transfer, what is their responsibility towards their constituencies and the constituents,” asked an official from the MMC.
When contacted, chief officer Megnath Porob refused to comment and said he will abide by the transfer order.
Former MMC chairperson and councillor Manish Arolkar said it’s surprising that the government thought of transferring Porob when the recovery of the council was falling in place.
“Since June, Porob has been after the recovery and steadily recovering the outstanding dues, due to which he could pay salaries of the staff and retirement dues of the retired staff. It will take the next chief officer another six months to go through the files and start the recovery, which was set in motion by Porob,” said Arolkar.
Another former chairperson and Councillor Shekar Khadapkar said it’s that MMC has seen six chief officers within four years. “Earlier, the council was blamed for musical chair, but now we wondering whom to blame for the musical chair of the chief officer,” said Khadapkar.
“We are going to meet Naik and Almeida and will try to stop the transfer, as within six months after Porob took charge of the office, the recovery section was falling in place. If we do not get a clear reply, then we will approach Parsekar and seek the reason for transfer,” he added.
It may be recalled that in June the government in its order decided to appoint Sunil Masurkar as chief officer of MMC. However, due to the pressure from the councillors Masurkar was dropped at the last moment and Porob, who was the choice of the councillors, was appointed as chief officer and now within six months, Porob is transferred to the State Police Complaint Authority Department.
