The Times of  India      27.12.2010

MARGAO: Concerned over bellicose councillors creating a scene over non-issues at the council meetings, the chairperson of the Margao Municipal Council (MMC), Susheela Naik, has decided to instill a sense of discipline among the city fathers.

For starters, councillors will be banned from using their mobile phones when council meetings are in progress. “They will be told to switch off their mobile phones so that they don’t get distracted from incoming calls and messages,” Naik said.

The civic chief was of the opinion that several councillors received SMS messages on their cell phones when the council meeting was underway last Thursday, that spurred them to rake up issues which were not listed on the agenda, thereby causing them to lose focus on important issues that were being discussed.

“I was told by many that it was the SMS messages that diverted their attention from the topics listed on the agenda. I will now make sure that no other topics are raised in the meetings, until those listed on the agenda are discussed first,” Naik told TOI.

It may be noted that the several councillors, at the last council meeting, tried to raise some issues, despite objections from the chairperson, even before any of the issues listed on the agenda could be placed before the council for discussion. Repeated instructions by Naik to these councillors to take their seats fell on deaf ears, despite assurances given by her that all their issues will be discussed after topics listed in the agenda are first taken up.

Sources informed that some of the councillors hardly bothered to do any homework on the issues listed on the agenda, as a result of which the meeting ended up looking like a one-upmanship game. Queried over the matter, Naik informed that the copies of the agenda are handed over to all the councillors a week in advance. “The councillors are expected to come prepared for discussions at the meeting,” Naik said.