Team Goemkarponn
MARGAO: In a shocking revelation, Savio Coutinho, a prominent Congress leader and former chairperson of the Margao Municipal Council (MMC), has alleged that the council has been defrauded of nearly one crore rupees by various agencies and contractors.
This staggering figure has raised serious questions about the council’s financial management and transparency.
Coutinho’s allegations come at a time when the MMC is already grappling with multiple financial scandals.
He emphasized that the council’s failure to include the recovery of 18 lakhs misappropriated by its staff in the upcoming council meeting agenda is a clear indication of its lack of commitment to financial accountability.
Coutinho, along with other members of the Margao Congress Block, including Adv. Snehal Onskar, Aneil Alvares, Robert Vaz, Lincoln Gomes, and Damodar Onskar, held a press briefing to highlight the council’s inaction. They demanded that opposition councillors seek detailed information on the steps being taken to recover the misappropriated funds and the reasons behind the staff’s failure to be terminated.
The Congress leader predicted that Yogeshwar Shetkar, the municipal staff member currently in police custody for misappropriating funds, might soon claim innocence and receive a clean chit from the police, potentially leading to his reinstatement. This prediction underscores the perceived lack of seriousness in addressing the financial irregularities within the council.
Coutinho attributed the mounting arrears, estimated to be over 33 crores, to the arbitrary and unreasonable garbage tax levied on loyal taxpayers, including premises that are closed and not generating any waste. He also pointed out that unassessed premises, which are occupied and operational, do not paying house tax or garbage/sanitation tax. This issue, he noted, has been raised since 2016 but has been consistently ignored by the council.
The recovery drive, according to Coutinho, seems to be a mere facade aimed at collecting more funds to perpetuate similar frauds. He questioned the council’s focus on legally assessed premises while ignoring thousands of unassessed government quarters and commercial premises.
The Margao Congress Block also expressed strong opposition to the proposal for setting up a cafeteria in the Municipal garden.
Coutinho argued that the garden already has numerous restaurants in close proximity, making the new cafeteria unnecessary and potentially disruptive to the garden’s environment. This proposal, he suggested, might be a replacement for a previously shelved project involving a multi-level parking facility.
The block urged all councillors to critically evaluate the proposals for the cafeteria and the hydraulic system parking facility, rather than blindly following instructions from their mentors.
