VASCO: Opposition councillors of the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) walked out of the special council meeting alleging that the chairperson sent the minutes of the previous budget meeting to the DMA without getting them confirmed with the civic body.
After the boycotting the special council meeting, the opposition councillors held press briefing wherein they accused the chairperson of not functioning properly. Kritesh Gaonkar slammed chairperson Nandadeep Raut for calling his way of functioning as “childish”.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Gaonkar said, “The Director of Municipal Administration (DMA) holds various top level charges of the multiple govt bodies. Therefore the DMA wants the functioning of the municipalities from Goa to work systematically and efficiently. Sadly, there has been always a problem with Mormugao municipality. Many developmental works related files return back due to loopholes”.
Taking a potshot at Raut, he said, “The position of chairperson holds greater responsibility and so the chairperson should perform better and deliver rather than blame others.”
Kritesh said during his tenure as a chairperson, he got approval of developmental works worth Rs 12 crore. He mentioned that if the present chairperson doesn’t understand the functioning then he should consult some senior and experienced councillors. “Municipal council is a public office and it is not a private business,” Gaonkar said.
Councillor Krishna (Daji) Salkar alleged that the chairperson has gone wrong on several occasions.
“We have brought his mistakes to his notice, but he is not listening due to his ego,” Salkar alleged and claimed that works files of 12 opposition councillors do not reach the DMA and many works are pending. “The fourteenth finance commission grants need to be used properly for the public work but the same is not utilised. And if the fund goes back from the council then the ruling panel will be held responsible for it,” Salkar said.
“There is an issue for boycotting the special council meeting because the Chairperson is misusing his authority and there should be the exact discussion and the decisions should be mentioned in the minutes of the meeting. If this is not happening then are we supposed to confirm the minutes of the meeting, Councillor Murari Bandekar questioned.
Bandekar cited a similar example wherein their panel boycotted the budget meeting as he said that the budget fund allocation file was not produced before them for study.
Meanwhile, chairperson Raut termed the act of boycotting the special meeting by opposition councillors as “childish” and informed that the municipal funds will be utilised and given equally to all councillors.
Refuting the allegations levelled against him, Raut claimed that when Deepak Naik was the chairperson he had sent some developmental proposals and later some other councillor became the chairperson, he rejected the list. Raut claimed that the opposition councillors are deliberately doing such things.
He said there were major issues needed to be discussed at the special meeting such as COVID pandemic, dilapidated condition of the municipality building, developmental works, etc, but these councillors abruptly walked out.
Raut said due to staff shortage during the pandemic the minutes of the meeting were delayed, but were written later.
