Team Herald
MARGAO: A Margao resident finally got the drains desilted by spending his own money on the works to prevent the area from getting flooded.
The Shadow Council for Margao (SCM) was requested to look into the cleaning of drains along the old Railway station road.
“While the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) was fully engrossed in their dubious schemes of flouting fraudulent tenders for desilting of drains, citizen Adv Godfrey Norton spent nearly Rs 25,000 by engaging six workers for the last five days to clean the drain from Kamlakar Naik shop to Bata Showroom. Now after taking the trouble of cleaning up the drain, MMC is deliberately delaying the lifting of the mud from the road, which is now going back into the drain,” SCM claimed.
SCM convener Savio Coutinho contacted the Municipal Engineer Surendra Gaonkar and impressed upon him not to let the efforts of the citizens go to waste, as such requested that the mud be lifted on priority.
The engineer has been urged to open and clear the cross drain near Bata showroom to ensure the smooth flow of rainwater.
“We are being told by many people from around Margao that some councillors are trying to blame the Shadow Council for stalling the desilting works. We dare the councillors to publish a list of drains that were part of the Rs 3,41,999.50 common estimate tenders, totally worth Rs 28 lakh”, Coutinho dared.
“Having been exposed in this matter, the council has now started preparing a list of drains that require desilting and working out quantities to match the estimated figure of Rs 3,41,999.50 for each tender,” he claimed.
Even in the past, the work orders for desilting works were issued much after the onset of monsoon, and when half of the work was already done by the rain gods. As such, the Council can still prepare a genuine list of drains that require to be cleaned and proceed with the works by obtaining necessary approvals, the SCM added.
