The Times of India  25.08.2010

MARGAO: With the civic polls in October and the code of conduct yet to be enforced, the Margao municipal council (MMC) is in overdrive taking up civic works and completing pending projects.

Sources told TOI that the Class A civic body is expected to clear projects worth Rs 2 crore in the next couple of days. The same is an exponential jump over works undertaken in earlier months.

This, sources add, is understandable as such profligacy will not be possible once the election commission releases its code of conduct ahead of the polls.

MMC chairperson Savio Coutinho confirmed that tenders pertaining to works worth Rs 2 crore will be issued in the next couple of days.

"Every councillor in the 20 wards can ensure to complete works worth Rs 10 lakh," Coutinho told TOI on Tuesday.

He added that the code of conduct for the polls will be enforced from September 15 onwards.

In most wards, sitting councillors are racing ahead with developmental works - cutting of bushes, building gutters, cleaning drains, construction of roads, etc.

MMC councillor Babita Naik of ward 6 claims to have carried out works through the public works department (PWD) besides the Rs 10 lakh allotted by the MMC for constructing drains, roads and septic tanks.

She is now attempting to make inroads into ward number 7 which is now reserved for ladies.

Sources said that Naik's husband, a former councillor, will contest the civic polls from ward 6 while his wife has announced her decision to contest from ward 7.

"I've already constructed gutters and de-silted drains in ward 7. I'm confident that people will elect me from this new ward by looking at my performance," Babita told TOI.

In ward 15, Manjusha Kaskar claimed to have completed most of the works in her ward.

Keen to contest for the second consecutive term, she told TOI that there is hardly anything left to be done in her ward. "Some minor works on the footpath and de-silting of drains at a few places have also been done," she said.

Councillor from ward 5, Raju Naik told TOI on Tuesday that he is in the process of tendering works of drains and slabs. "Work of constructing the footpath has also been taken up," he said.

Radha Kavlekar of ward 18 and Piedade Noronha of ward 3 claim that all works in their wards have been completed.

"Except for some routine sanitation works, there is little that has to be done in my ward," said Kavlekar even as she readies to contest the coming civic elections.

Noronha, on the other hand, said all works in her ward were taken up periodically. "I do not have to take up any last minute works," she told TOI.

Meanwhile, as councillors attempt to leave a mark of their incumbency, residents say this efforts are aimed at making the public forget the collective incompetence of those councillors who never performed.

"The last-minute works may be doing us some good, but we cannot forget that some of these councillors did not show their faces to the electorate for their entire five-year term in office," said activist Albert Fernandes.

Several vigilant citizens feel that the civic body has also failed to deliver on most counts.

"It is difficult to gauge the performance of these councillors as most of the issues haven't been tackled for years," said local resident Sudesh Prabhudessai.

Giving the example of Malbhat, he said, "The major issues that plague this thickly-populated ward are garbage, the unhygienic condition of the wholesale fish market, lack of dust-bins in the locality and the burning of plastic and thermocol waste. The MMC has failed to address these issues over several years."