MARGAO: Claiming that fraudulent bills worth over Rs 7.93 crore being paid to the two agencies engaged by the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) for segregated waste collection and cleaning of wards, Shadow Council for Margao (SCM) has served a notice to chairperson and chief officer of civic body to refrain from making any further payments from the municipal treasury.

However, Agnelo Fernandes, Chief Officer of MMC said he had not yet received any memorandum in this regard.

“The perennial shoddy deals in the waste management system of Margao Municipal Council, (a council whose mentors are none other than the two super vocal MLAs of Margao and Fatorda), is likely to open up a huge can of worms”, said Savio Coutinho, SCM convenor.

Alleging that both the said agencies have been fraudulently billing the council in excess of the services provided, SCM claimed that the work order given to the agency namely Bapu Environmental Social Service Organisation is illegal, as the same was issued without following any formalities, and that too, the contract is given to an agency that was terminated for its fraudulent attempt to defraud the municipal treasury of several lakhs of rupees; and an agency on which an FIR was filed for the same.

Furthermore, the SCM stated that both the contracts appear to be the most unique, in which there is neither security deposit nor performance guarantee taken from the agency.

Savio charged that even though the agency is not performing its responsibilities, as laid down in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) dated December 12, 2018 executed between the council and the Green Globe Self Help Group, the inflated bills are being irregularly certified by the council’s officials for payment.

Reacting to the same, the Chief Officer said that he has not yet received any memorandum or notice with regard to the same.

“I will go through the notice once received”, he added.