TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Arguments marked the Corporation of the City of Panjim meeting after corporators questioned Mayor Surendra Furtado as to why he did not follow procedure or consult them after he went against the council’s recent resolution on striking garbage workers.
Countering Furtado’s contention that the government had asked him to take back the workers unconditionally, most of the corporators wanted to know if the government had conveyed the decision to the council in any way – a contention denied by the Commissioner Sanjit Rodrigues.
Rodrigues said that as there was a council resolution asking him to go ahead with the outsourcing of the garbage collection as well as terminate striking employees, he needed another resolution from the council to go back on the decision or written directions from the government overruling the resolution – none of which he had received as yet.
The corporators also questioned the mayor as to how they were not consulted or informed about the strike being called off and if procedure was being followed. They also sought to know whether there were any guarantees that the government would bear the excess expenditure on wages as the mayor had promised enhanced wages to the workers. They also wanted to know if there was any guarantee that the workers would not strike again and hold the city to ransom given that the CCP is broke and has no money.
The meeting began without the Commissioner and the deputy commissioner or staff present. The mayor told the corporators that the government had asked him to take back the workers. He blamed the commissioner for keeping the city in a mess and for not handling the garbage problem properly or managing the strike.
Furtado also said that as of Thursday, the workers had begun garbage collection and had bundled all the garbage into bags and kept it ready for the trucks to pick up. He blamed the commissioner for not allowing the officially ‘terminated’ workers to use the trucks.
Furtado was questioned by the opposition, which said that he should have called for a review meeting on Friday before unilaterally calling off the strike as the CCP was doing a commendable job and as per council resolution the tendering process for garbage collection had begun.
Following many arguments, the mayor asked the corporators whether they wanted the strike called off and declared the resolution passed though there was no voting or even a show of hands seen and two ruling councillors were seated.
