One of Goa’s oldest towns and taluka headquarters, Quepem, has seen only average progress in the last five years. This is one among a few municipalities where the ruling BJP failed to capture the hot seat. Quepem Municipal Corporation (QMC) is ruled by opposition Congressman, Dayesh Naik even as the ruling party tried to topple the Congress but failed to get the required majority. The QMC has 10 wards and a population of 25 thousand with approximately 12 thousand voters and is one of the most important Municipal Council’s of Goa. Chandrakant Kavlekar, MLA of Quepem has succeeded in keeping his man (Naik) as the chairperson for the last 13 years. Kavlekar has already declared plans to float his own panel in the coming elections.
Like most other Municipalities in the state, QMC also faces the problem of outstanding taxes. It has failed to recover the huge outstanding pending for the last few years, amounting to approximately Rs 1.5 crore from House tax, Commercial tax and rent. The council has also laid down a garbage tax on citizens and commercial houses. Naik holds officers and staff responsible for the huge outstanding. Apart from rent from two markets, at Tilamol and Quepem, the council also gets rent from a petrol pump and an educational institute in the area. With all these assets, the QMC should have been a self-sustaining municipality but due to the lethargic attitude of staff and councilors, it faces a financial crisis.
Five years back, like all other municipalities, QMC also received Rs 2 crore funds for development work and like the other councils, QMC also failed to utilize the full amount. According to Naik, the council constructed the commercial project opposite the QMC building for which it spent around Rs 70 lakhs as development funds and it also proposed the renovation of the QMC quarters. However, this file has been pending for the last three years now at the District of Municipal Administration (DMA). The council still has Rs 1.3 crores left but due to unclear guidelines, the funds can’t be used.
The QMC has seen two chairpersons in the last five years. Veteran leader, Manuel Colaco was on the seat for a year and a half followed by Naik for the last three and a half years. Naik claimed to have the support of six councilors but the opposition charge is that he was in the minority because of which Quepem did not see much development, according to the opposition. Since the council was in the hands of the Congress, the BJP withdrew their hand from development work. Locals claimed that due to the feud between the two parties, progress in the town has suffered while some councilors alleged that the interference of BJP men was the reason for the non-progress.
Naik however, mentioned that the council was getting the cooperation and support of the government. “The DMA is helpful and concerned about development in the town. They take the initiative for development here. The Urban Development Minister and his department offer us a lot of help,” said Naik. The absence of a Municipal Engineer is another issue for the council and development is affected due to this as well.
The QMC is one of a few municipalities to have implemented a successful door to door garbage collection system and a garbage treatment plant. QMC has hired a private agency for garbage treatment at the plant in Shirvoi to whom they pay Rs 2.65 lakhs a month. The QMC has also hired about 20 workers to collect garbage are in possession of five vehicles including a compacter to do the job. The council propagates the idea of segregation of garbage at the source and has achieved good success with this while charging household Rs 36 and hotels Rs 1800 annually for the service.
