MARGAO: A huge ruckus unfolded at the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) meeting on Monday as 24 councillors unanimously demanded to hand over the matter of three BS4 trucks purchased in 2019 to the Vigilance Department for investigation. However, Chairperson Lyndon Pereira hesitated in passing the resolution.
Later, the council resolved not to approach the Supreme Court pertaining to the registration of the trucks with the RTO and the committee formed by the council to discuss the issue.
After a lengthy discussion on the above issue, the 24 councillors, out of 25, except the chairperson, demanded an inquiry into the matter, as major financial crises have been noticed pertaining to the purchasing and not registering the trucks with the RTO on time.
However, the councillors were shocked to witness the hesitation on the part of the chairperson in passing the resolution in this regard.
Chairperson claimed that the committee constituted by the civic body to first study the matter and take the appropriate decision, wherein he and councillor Ghanashyam Shirodkar, besides two other engineers were the part of the committee and Shirodkar too pressed for the Vigilance inquiry into the matter.
Earlier, the chairperson informed the council that upon the legal advice, the council needs to take a decision in order to approach the Supreme Court so that an appeal is made to revive the court orders with regard to the registration of those three trucks of BS4 engine with the RTO.
Ghanashyam, who was the first one to raise serious questions on the matter during the first meeting of the council, said that all those culprits involved in the matter need to be punished for negligence, resulting in losses to the tune of Rs 40 lakh.
“In order to have a proper investigation and to expose all the culprits involved in the matter, the case needs to be handed over to the Vigilance Department or Lokayukta. Responsibilities need to be fixed and action should be taken,” he demanded.
He also argued that the civic body has already suffered huge losses and there is no need to approach the Supreme Court, which will add more losses to the municipality.
Reacting to the same, the chairperson informed the council that as per the legal advice the civic body has to bear the expenses of Rs 5 lakh to approach the Apex Court in the matter. However, many councillors claimed that the expenses will be more than Rs 5 lakh and the civic body cannot afford to suffer more losses in the matter.
Councillors Damodar Shirodkar, Mahesh Amonkar, Sagun Naik, Ravindra Naik and many others also expressed their concern over the issue and demanded a Vigilance inquiry into the matter.
All 24, except the chairperson, pressed for the inquiry. Till the end, the chairperson showed no willingness for the councillors’ demands.
However, later it was resolved not to refer the matter to the Supreme Court and a committee was constituted at the council level to discuss and decide the future course of action.
