VASCO: The ordinary meeting of Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) witnessed noisy scenes and chaos, on Thursday, after some councillors demanded Chairperson Deepak Naik to explain why extension was given to the recently concluded Saptah fair.
The agitated councillors said that they are facing accusations from citizens that the council gave three-day extension to Saptah fair for monetary gains.
It is instructive that though the council had decided to hold the fair only for seven days, however, it was allowed to continue for over 10 days.
Raising the issue, Councillor Kritesh Gaonkar questioned the chairperson why the council failed to remove the stalls from Saptah fair venue after seven days. He said that he was hearing stories that the council gave extension to the fair for monetary benefits taken by some council members. Councillor Pascoal D’Souza also raised similar concerns after which there was uproar inside the council hall with cross talks and heated arguments between councillors.
Prior to discussing the issue of Saptah fair, some councillors alleged discrimination of their wards by the municipality in taking up developmental works. They alleged that their development proposals were deliberately kept aside.
Rejecting the allegations of discrimination, Chairperson Deepak Naik said that the council had only Rs 77 lakh funds for developmental works. Therefore, he said, all the councillors were asked to submit a list essential works worth Rs 2 lakh each in their respective wards. However, he said, the estimates submitted by the councillors were exceeding Rs 90 lakh, as such, the council sanctioned only the important works.
