Hounding the honest: Margao councillors want IAS officer out, citizens revolt

Panaji: Honesty has its own price. Now it is the turn of another crusading young bureaucrat in Goa who is being targetted by local politicians, many of whom who are demanding his transfer from a corruption-ridden municipal council. A majority of the city fathers of the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) in South Goa want Naveen SL, a 2012 batch officer, posted as the Council’s chief officer for four months, out. [caption id=“attachment_2182525” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Margao Municipal Council, chief officer, Naveen SL. Image courtesy MMC Margao[/caption] In those four months, 33-year-old Naveen has already initiated several key steps to curb corruption, including an anti-corruption helpline and transparent construction licensing mechanism among others. The officer also ordered the demolition of an alleged illegal construction by city mayor Gonzaco Rebello. Repeated attempts are being made by 16 out of the MMC’s 20 councilors who want Naveen to be posted out. They even met Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza seeking his transfer because of the officer’s alleged non-transparent manner of functioning. However, their attempt was thwarted by members of the civil society, who on Friday sieged the councillors, demanding that the Arunachal Goa Mizoram and other Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre officer be allowed to continue in the post. According to Rajashree Nagarcekar, one of the civil society activists who galvanized the protest on Friday, while the councilors are citing non-transparency, the key reason behind the protests, she said, was Naveen’s order to demolish an illegal construction by Rebello. “He (Naveen) is known to be very pro-people and in favour of transparency. He even records proceedings of meetings using a video camera and invites the public to witness them. Besides there has been an increase in the collection of revenue now. We have written to the urban development department (which provides funds and oversees functioning of Goa’s municipal councils) asking them not to transfer the officer out as demanded by the councilors,” Nagarcekar told Firstpost. The councillors claim razing of Rebello’s illegal construction is not the cause for their grudge, but they cited a number of shortcomings that have allegedly cropped up ever since Naveen took over. Their complaints include Naveen’s alleged non-transparent method of functioning, his failure to give the councilors their due respect, taking decisions without consultation and mismanagement of the garbage handling. Damodar Shirodkar one of the 16 (MMC has 20 councillors) councillors who participated in a sit-down protest outside the Council building on 23 March demanding Naveen’s transfer said: “If he is not transferred all of us councillors will collect the city garbage and dump it outside the municipality.” Shirodkar also claimed he had documents which link Naveen to a scam. On Friday, however, when citizens including Nagarcekar and scores of other residents from Margao town, located 35 km from Panaji, thronged the town-hall and had an eye-to-eye confrontation with the 16 councillors during an annual budget meeting, Shirodkar was unable to produce documents, forcing the rest of the councillors as well Rebello to be on the defensive. When contacted Gonzalo refused to comment on the issue of his illegal construction, but added, that the councillors have lost faith on the chief officer. “We cannot work with him,” he said. On the other hand, the town’s citizenry appear to have rallied behind Naveen. “We will descend in thousands if he is transferred. After years we have an honest officer who is putting the city first. We want him to continue, despite what the councilors say,” Dickson Vaz, a city-dweller said. Among the many projects which have caught the fancy of the residents under the jurisdiction of Margao civic authority’ is a toll free helpline, which also works as an informative as well as grievance redressal mechanism. Naveen is also known to have cracked down on tax defaulters by launching a revenue recovery drive, which the councillors claim is ending up “harassing” citizens. The chief officer also put in place a single window system for licensing of construction projects, correspondence for which is now routed through the postal service, which according to the officer would cut the amount of contact an applicant would need to have with MMC officials or the councillors themselves. “In order to avoid any interaction of the applicant with the municipal engineers and the staff, the India Post service has been considered,” Naveen has been quoted as saying. The chief officer also did away with awarding of contracts to private contractors, often unofficial representatives of the elected councillors themselves, by roping in self-help groups to dispose garbage and starting a door-to-door garbage collection system. “By doing this in door-to-door garbage collection, he has saved the MMC a lot of money, which would otherwise be spent on salaries to workers,” says Savio Coutinho, who once headed the Council. While the councillors want Naveen out, cutting across party lines, workers of the Aam Aadmi Party, ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as well as other politicians and civil society representatives now want the Council itself be dissolved. “We want the Council itself to be dissolved. They are interested in protecting vested interests. We cannot get a good officer be transferred on account of that,” said lawyer-activist Rajeev Gomes. For now the state administration appears inclined to maintain a status. “He is an IAS officer. I cannot transfer him (as Minister for Urban Development). It is up to the personnel ministry,” Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza told Firstpost.