Goemkarponn Desk
MORMUGAO: The Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) convened its ordinary council meeting on Thursday afternoon, addressing a range of important issues affecting its jurisdiction.
Key topics included the long-pending rent disputes, development plans for the chicken and mutton market, Geographic Information (GI) mapping of houses, regularization of staff, and the transformation of the new Fish Market into a green building.
Despite the absence of 14 councillors, Chairperson Girish Borker and Chief Officer Deepesh Priolkar assured attendees that the majority of issues discussed would soon see resolutions.
Resolving Long-Standing Rent Disputes Addressing the media after the meeting, Chairperson Girish Borker highlighted that one of the most pressing matters was the long-pending rent issue.
“We have several original lessees who were paying minimal rent, and the MMC later raised their rent. As the hiked amount wasn’t paid, interest was applied, worsening the situation,” Borker explained.
“Vasco MLA Krishna Salkar had taken up this issue even during his tenure as a councillor and has raised it in the assembly after becoming an MLA. We have now decided to settle this by reducing the interest and having a joint meeting with over a hundred lessees to finalize the amount, bringing an amicable resolution to this long-standing issue.”
The Chairperson Girish Borker also announced plans for the development of a new, dedicated mutton and chicken market funded by the municipality.
“We want to have a dedicated market for meat and keep it seperate from the present Vegetables and fruit market. We have the space and we have decided to build this market with municipal funds, and MLA Krishna Salkar has assured us that additional funds will be provided if we fall short. We also have another market project that initially received Rs 1 crore in funding, but the estimates have now gone up to Rs 1.81 crore. We will allot the extra Rs 81 lakh from municipal funds,” added Borker.
Opening of the Sada Market
Speaking on staff issues and new market projects, Borker confirmed that the newly constructed Sada Market would be operational soon.
“The electricity and water bills for the new Sada Market market complex, which amounted to around Rs 80 lakh, have been paid. The Public Works Department (PWD) has agreed to install new meters for the complex, and many of the shops have already been tendered. We expect the Sada Market complex to open in the next few months,” he said.
Councillor Deepak Naik raised concerns about the demotion of a senior staff member, calling it a “bad precedent.”
“We had a female staff member who was promoted to head clerk from her previous position as UDC (Upper Division Clerk) around eight years ago on an ad-hoc basis. However, she has now been moved back to a lower position, despite her pay scale being maintained. This feels like a demotion, and it isn’t right.We are an A class municipality and we only have one head clerk while other A-class municipalities have three. The Chairperson must take up this issue and ensure the post is revived.”
Councillor Shami Salkar discussed the council’s initiative to convert the newly constructed Vasco Fish Market into a green building.
“During an inspection of the Vasco Fish Market, we proposed to GSUDA officials that we could install a bio-digester and a solar roof. They agreed and confirmed that provisions for these facilities are available. We decided that we will move a resolution to implement this, so that it can be made it one of the first green buildings in Vasco. This will address issues related to power supply and waste management,” Salkar said.