PAUL CARVALHO

QUEPEM

On paper, it is a full-fledged municipal council, but in reality the 10-member Quepem Municipal Council (QMC) has been reduced to a step-child heavily dependent on many adopted parents.

In the absence of key officers, the QMC has been forced to rely on the Cuncolim Municipal Council, the Margao Municipal Council and even the Quepem PHC for its basic requirements.

Such has been the indifferent attitude towards the QMC that a proposal sent to the government for additional staff has been ignored thus far.

Former chairperson Rahul Pereira informed that the government has not sanctioned the adequate staff. There is no full-fledged chief officer and has not even sanctioned the post of a municipal engineer. The lone junior engineer has to manage the entire affairs of QMC with the help of engineers from the Cuncolim Municipal Council. QMC does not even have a sanitary inspector and has to seek the assistance of officials from Quepem PHC,” informed Pereira.

QMC Vice-Chairperson Mateus Camilo Simoes said most projects in Quepem town have been hampered in the absence of a full-time municipal engineer.

QMC Chairperson Dayesh Naik admitted that people of Quepem town have been facing hardship due to shortage of key QMC officers.