Cong accuses Digambar of political interference in Margao’s civic affairs

Margao: State Congress president Amit Patkar on Tuesday accused Margao MLA Digambar Kamat of pressurising govt officials against processing applications from citizens for various works unless routed through his Model Margao portal. Sources in the Kamat camp, however, strongly refuted Patkar’s allegations of the MLA’s interference in the affairs of the municipality.
“It’s disturbing (to note) that common people of Margao are being harassed by govt officials on the diktats of Digambar Kamat not to process their applications for small works unless routed through the Model Margao portal,” Patkar said. He urged the intervention of the South Goa collector and the chief officer of the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) to stop such moves immediately.
“I have reports of Margao MLA Digambar Kamat pressurising mamlatdars and talathis in the collectorate as well as the staff of the MMC not to process applications of birth certificates, residence certificates, income certificates, divergence certificates, etc unless they are uploaded from the Model Margao email ID,” Patkar said.
Model Margao was the panel propped up by Kamat for fielding his candidates for the last civic elections.
Patkar attributed Kamat’s behaviour to “frustration from his failure” during the recently held Lok Sabha elections. “Kamat should learn from the defeat and stop playing dirty tricks. It is shocking that Kamat, who has spent almost 35 years in politics, is stooping so low and blocking small works of his own electorate,” Patkar said.
He added that Congress will soon create a cell to address the grievances of the common people.