MARGAO: Ruckus was witnessed in the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) on Thursday as the councillors exposed the civic body’s technical section with regards to the missing files related to Sonsoddo.
Junior Engineer Vikas Prabhudesai too got exposed as councillors by adjourning the meeting for nearly 10 minutes marched to his cabin and found few files other than those related to Sonsoddo which had gone missing.
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The councillors demanded strict action against the concerned engineer as the register book of the missing files related to Sonsoddo was found in his cabin.
They demanded that the JE be transferred to hold the charge of Sonsoddo dump yard or suspended immediately. MMC chairperson Lyndon Pereira even said as per the resolution taken, the council will file a police complaint against the concerned engineer, if the missing files are not traced.
The irked councillors even accused the technical section of corruption with Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes stating that he cannot tolerate the engineers.
Earlier, at the general council meeting, Councillor Sagun Naik was the first to raise the issue of two important files pertaining to the construction of shed and road at Sonsoddo which went missing for several months.
The Chief Officer, besides other councillors, demanded that the files be tabled at the meeting but the junior engineer Vikas Prabhudesai failed to present them.
Earlier, Municipal Engineer Diniz De Melo alleged that the files went missing from the chief officer’s cabin. However, the chief officer refuted these charges.
Sagun sought clarification from chairperson Lyndon Pereira and CO on these files.
“Both the files are missing for the last one-and-half years, which have hampered the work”, he said.
The CO said he too was confused with regards to the missing files and hence issued a note to the technical section about the same.
“Where are the files? I have not received them, despite issuing several reminders to the concerned engineer”, the chief officer said.
He informed the Council that he had been taken to task by the High Court with regards to the concerned files.
“It is high time that the technical section needs to be taken to task. Responsibilities should be fixed. Let the technical section explain the matter”, he said.
Later, councillors including Pooja Naik, Sadanand Naik, Damodar Shirodkar, Johnny Crasto, Raju Naik, Nimisha Faleiro and others took the JE to task and demanded that the files be tabled immediately.
However, he failed to submit the files and stated that files have been given to the dealing clerk, who has proceeded on long leave.
Pooja and Nimisha also raised the issue of missing files pertaining to grass cutting machines.
The councillors forced the chairperson to stop the meeting for a few minutes, and all of them marched to the cabin of the concerned engineer. Shockingly, the M B Book and list of quotations, besides a few other files which were not supposed to be on the table of concerned engineers were found by the councillors. Later, the council took a resolution to transfer the concerned engineer to manage the Sonsoddo garbage dump. Councillors also demanded not to mark any file to him.
However, the engineer failed to explain the reasons for misleading the council.
Speaking to media persons after the meeting, the chairperson said as per the resolution taken, the council will file a police complaint against the concerned engineer, if the missing files are not traced.
Few councillors even charged the concerned engineer and others from the technical section with corruption for hiding the files deliberately.
“This is a serious issue and I have already brought this before the Directorate of Municipal Administration and Department of Urban Development that the technical section is one of the main reasons the Margao Municipal Council is unable to carry out the development works in the commercial capital”, he said.
He said a note has been put before the Chief Officer for supervision of files.
