A year after being drafted, no sign of City of Panaji’s bylaws yet

PANAJI: Over a year has passed since the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) approached the state government for approval of its bylaws pertaining to solid waste management, recruitment rules, hawking and regulations for street vendors, and trade and occupation.
The proposal, however, appears to be in cold storage, say officials.
The corporation, which came into existence 17 years ago, has been functioning with no administrative teeth and councillors now suggest that the CCP officers like it that way.
Sitting councillor Pundalik Raut Dessai suggests that CCP officials “are afraid that when the bylaws come, they will have to strictly follow them.”
But with no bylaws, CCP has no powers to seal illegal constructions, crack down on tax defaulters and impose punitive measures on violators in the city.
After being drafted by former collector ND Agarwal, the bylaws were passed by the CCP council at a meeting in March 2018. Then CCP commissioner Ajit Roy had forwarded the bylaws to the government. But since then, the matter seems to be on the back burner.
“The bylaws have to go ahead, they are very essential for the functioning of the council . We have already delayed it for many years,” said former mayor and sitting councilor Vaidehi Naik. “CCP must take the initiative and speed up the process.”
Praja Foundation, which is conducting a nation-wide study on urban governance, recommended that bylaws were an important cog in the reforms that CCP needs to undertake. “In terms of low-hanging fruit with regard to what the civic body can do, I think bylaws is the one thing that came up,” said Praja Foundation project director Milind Mhaske.
When Surendra Furtado was the mayor, he initiated the process to draft the bylaws and ensured that they were sent to the directorate of municipal administration (DMA) and the law department for vetting.
“He sent it to the DMA with some changes that were not in agreement with the City of Panaji Corporation Act 2002. The department aked queries but nobody followed up,” Dessai said.
Eight months later, the government returned the file to CCP due to errors in drafting and suggested that the civic body revise the draft bylaws. Dessai says CCP needs a full-time liaison officer to follow up on the issue if the process has to reach its logical end.