Seeks improvements in services of BJP-ruled council in Margao
MARGAO
With civic polls just a year away and the functioning of the administration under scrutiny, Congress-turned-BJP Margao MLA Digambar Kamat has embarked on a task to streamline the Margao municipal administration to meet the requirements of Madgavkars.
The Margao MLA on Monday held a closed-door meeting with municipal officials at the Black Box, Ravindra Bhavan, Margao to review the functioning of the administration and suggested corrective measures.
The first immediate relief that may come for citizens from the review meeting is the issuance of birth and death certificates within 24 hours.
Sources informed that at the meeting, Kamat questioned why birth and death certificates were not issued to the applicants on the same day. The MLA questioned the delay given the records are computerised and the documents can be issued at the click of a mouse.
After much discussion, the review meeting decided that the civic administration should henceforth issue the birth and death certificates on the same day.
Sources said the MLA was also kept abreast of the intra-section transfers effected by the civic body in consultations with the officials in a bid to increase the efficiency of the municipal staff.
The review meeting by the Margao MLA with the municipal officials and staff assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of complaints that the civic body was found wanting in ensuring time-bound delivery of service.
Sources said complaints of delays in approving trade licences and the transfer of licences have been pending in the civic body for some time. They said the recent sectional transfers are expected to bring the desired changes on the ground.
With the civic elections scheduled to take place early next year, sources said the exercise by the Margao MLA is an attempt to bring the administration back on track.
The MMC is presently controlled by Kamat since he returned to the BJP fold two years ago on September 14, 2022. Though Kamat had fought the last two municipal polls for the Margao civic body on the Model Margao banner in alliance with his Fatorda counterpart Vijai Sardesai’s Fatorda Forward panel, and emerged triumphant, this time around, the seven-time Margao MLA will be contesting the municipal polls on the BJP banner.
It is widely expected that the MLA and BJP State president Damu Naik, hailing from the Fatorda area, will float a single party-backed panel to contest all the 25 seats spread across Margao, Fatorda, and the three seats in Curtorim constituency.
