Team Goemkarponn
Margao: Bhimshakti Sangatan South Goa President Savio Coutinho has strongly criticised Margao MLA and PWD Minister Digambar Kamat and Margao Municipal Council (MMC) Chairperson Damodar Shirodkar following the dismissal of a Special Leave Petition (SLP) by the Supreme Court in a case related to municipal sanitation workers.
Condemning what he termed as the “desperation” of the Margao leadership, Coutinho alleged that the MLA and the MMC Chairperson had attempted to harass poor sanitation workers by pursuing the matter in court through expensive lawyers. He questioned whether the council had formally approved approaching the Supreme Court with the SLP.
Coutinho also accused the MMC Chief Officer and Chairperson of misleading the public by stating that the council would implement the High Court of Bombay at Goa order while quietly filing a petition before the Supreme Court.
Thanking the judiciary for upholding justice, the Bhimshakti Sangatan called upon daily wage workers who have not been granted permanent status despite years of service to come forward and fight for their rights. Coutinho said the judiciary remained the most reliable hope for such workers and assured that the organisation would support them in their struggle for justice.
He also took a dig at Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s announcement in the Goa Legislative Assembly that daily wage workers completing 10 years of service would be granted permanent status. According to Coutinho, several MMC workers had approached their union leader — who he claimed is the brother of the MMC Chairperson — and were allegedly told that the Chief Minister’s announcement was made with upcoming elections in mind.
“If this is what BJP supporters themselves say about the Chief Minister’s announcement, how can the common man believe it?” Coutinho questioned, accusing the government of hypocrisy in claiming to support SC/ST communities while allegedly harassing sanitation workers.
Providing details of the case, advocate Snehal Onskar said the SLP (Civil) Diary No. 11140/2026 was filed before the Supreme Court by the State of Goa and the MMC against municipal workers Domnic Furtado and 11 others, challenging the High Court’s order dated August 4, 2025 in WP No. 120/2021.
The petition sought condonation of delay and permissions to file additional documents and facts. However, when the matter came up for hearing before Justices Aravind Kumar and Prasanna B. Varale, the court condoned the delay but held that no grounds existed to interfere with the High Court judgment and dismissed the SLP.
The court also ordered that all pending applications in the matter would stand disposed of.
Bhimshakti member Lincoln Gomes urged the Chief Minister and the Urban Development Minister to intervene and take strict action against those responsible for what he described as harassment of marginalised workers and misuse of public funds.
Another member, Damodar Onskar, alleged that if the case had been admitted, public funds could have been wasted on fees for Supreme Court lawyers, similar to what he claimed had happened earlier in the name of public events.
If you want, I can also shorten this into a sharper newspaper version (350–400 words) with a stronger headline and a quote box, which usually works better for page layout.
