MARGAO: Shadow Council for Margao has wholeheartedly appreciated the decision of the Lokayukta for taking Suo Moto cognizance of the fraudulent tender process of Margao Municipal Council, which has led to the directions from the Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) to keep the tendering process in abeyance.
Friday’s hearing of the Lokayukta matter was attended by Convener of Shadow Council for Margao Savio Coutinho, Jose Maria Miranda, Radha Kavlekar and Pio Barreto.
Terming this development as a victory for the taxpayers of Margao, SCM Convener Coutinho stated that precious funds of the public exchequer are saved from leaving the municipal treasury through the dubious schemes of the council. We have been consistently raising these types of shoddy issues but the council and the concerned authorities ignored all our complaints, and this gave the council the courage to go for a mega fraud through this tender.
“The council unsuccessfully tried to include the pre-monsoon desilting works in the tender list, with a hope to manoeuvre and manipulate the completion of the fraudulent tender. In the bargain, they forget that a council resolution was a must for such expenditure,” he said.
“It would be interesting to note that after the demand from the SCM that the desilting works should be executed by engaging services of the workers, (which was on the basis of the guidelines from the DMA), the council tried to bulldoze through by taking/announcing a decision (April 14, 2020) of the council that the pre-monsoon desilting works will be executed through tenders. Thereafter when they realised that the meeting dated April 14, 2020 was unofficial and hence no resolution could be recorded, they tried to squeeze in an ex-post facto resolution granting approval for tendering the desilting works. This is another fraud as no such resolution was adopted at the meeting on May 14, 2020,” reminded Savio.
“Now with the detailed inspection and investigations a lot more facts with respect to the tendered works will come to light. It is rightly said ‘pikillo ponnos lipounk zaina.”
