While the senior citizen had to make umpteen trips to the civic body for license renewal in the last one year, Margao police took him to the police station after Margao Municipal Chief Officer Naveen S L called in the cops to initiate action against him for allegedly obstructing the government officials on duty.
The ailing senior citizen, who was later let off by the police without the registration of any offence, claimed that he must have visited to the civic body about 50 times over the last one year for renewal of his construction license. “Last month, when I had approached the Municipal technical section, the engineer told me to bring additional 10-12 documents. When I questioned him, the engineer said that these additional documents are required in view of the Canacona building tragedy,” he said.
“When I went to the Chief Officer on Monday, I told him to call his Municipal engineer since I wanted to know the huge delay in clearing the file. I must have shouted at the Municipal engineer, but I have done nothing to the Chief Officer for him to call the cops and take me to the police station,” he said, disclosing plans to lodge a formal complaint with the Chief Minister on Tuesday.
When contacted, Chief Officer Naveen said the public have the right to demand speedy clearance of files, but the demand should be in consonance with the administration’s ability to work freely. “He said he will not let go the Chief Officer. You cannot put pressure or threaten the officials,” he said.
Naveen, however, has assured to conduct an inquiry as to why the license renewal file has been pending with the Municipal technical section for around
a year now.
