Kishore Mamlekar: Vendors are suffering dueto the hiked sopo tax which has been hiked by 300 per cent. The PMC has been ignoring our agitations.
The PMC crossed its limits by hiking the sopo rates. There is a fraud in the PMC sopo tax hike.
Before deciding on the sopo hike, the PMC should have sought legal advice on whether the 300 per cent sopo tax hike was justified or according to law, but it did not do this.
Herald: When the price of virtually every commodity has increased during this time, why can’t the sopo tax be hiked?
KM: The sopo tax was hiked in 2012 and from the earlier rate of Rs 3 (market shed) and Rs 2 (open area); it was made a common rate of Rs 5 for all vendors. Prices may rise, but it does not mean that profits will rise. The vendors earn only a fixed percentage on the profit margin of materials sold.
We suspect a fraud in the sopo tax issue
Herald: The PMC has claimed that some vendors who have grabbed over 10 to 20 mts of land in the market for their business are instigating other vendors not to pay the Sopo tax.
KM: I strongly deny such allegations. There is no such vendor who has occupied such a big area. If this was the case, then such a vendor would have become a businessman. I challenge the PMC to measure the area of a chicken shop in the market belonging to Sidharth Naik, who is the son of the PMC chairperson.
Herald: PMC Councillor Venkatesh Naik says that many vendors keep their unsold material in the market area on a daily basis, as if they are on a permanent basis and create chaos in the market. Why are vendors doing this?
KM: As far as vendors in the market shed are concerned, the area is reserved for the market only. All other municipalities in Goa also keep such reserve sheds. The vendors who keep their unsold material in the shed are paying fixed sopo tax to contractor or the municipality.
