BY A GT REPORTER
PANJIM: The utter futility of five sweeping machines on Goan roads resulting in wasteful expenditure, their appendages in the form of tractors and the planned outsourcing of all these machines for a sizeable sum rankled the opposition BJP benches yesterday.
Procured at a sizeable amount of Rs 97 lakh with additional Rs 26 lakh spent on tractors for ferrying these machines, opposition leader Manohar Parrikar explained their futility on Goan roads. Finally, Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao had to shelve his initial plans of outsourcing all five machines and remain satisfied with outsourcing of just one machine on a trial basis.
Their drawbacks
In Parrikar’s opinion, the sweeping machines are useless for the following reasons: Their quality is not up to the mark, the pre-requisite of good roads for their use is a complete non-starter in Goa and the shape of these machines makes it a tedious task for them to negotiate sharp turns on narrow Goan roads.
What’s worse, tractors are unable to pull the load of these machines on slope thereby rendering them useless on such roads as well. Moreover, the noise emanating from these machines during their sweeping process, Parrikar feels, is enough to wake up all Altinho residents in the wee hours of the morning.
“The only roads in Panjim which these sweeping machines can clear are the DB Marg and MG Road,” remarked the opposition leader. “It is a classic case of window shopping. These machines were selected without examining their actual use on Goan roads. Total working of these machines is less than 1000 hours,” was the opposition leader’s charge.
Outsourcing plans
Adding to the misery of the Urban Development Ministry was the proposed outsourcing of all five sweeping machines -- already purchased at a huge cost along with the tractors as appendages in addition -- again, at a price.
What’s more, Parrikar pointed out how Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao did not despatch a single machine to Cuncolim Municipality in the Minister’s own constituency and instead posted them at CCP, Margao, Mormugao and Mapusa Municipal Councils.
Joaquim replies
To start with, the Urban Development Minister put up a brave face while expressing confidence of putting all these sweeping machines to use. “I want to show that these machines can be run. The machines are in proper condition. It is the workers who are lazy. So I am outsourcing them,” remarked Alemao.
But soon, he had to beat a hasty retreat, in the face of reality being portrayed by the opposition leader. As a compromise formula spelt out by the opposition leader in the House during the course of discussions of this Starred Question, the Urban Development Minister accepted that he would outsource just one sweeping machine on a trial basis.
