MARGAO: Besides the local residents of Margao, even the Councillors have expressed objections to the bidding price of nearly Rs 1.77 crore, including GST for sopo collection in the jurisdiction of the Margao Municipal Council (MMC).
Speaking to O Heraldo, few of the MMC councillors have expressed their fears that the contractor will hesitate to take part in the bidding process and may collect extra money to recover the losses if he gets the tender.
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It is pertinent to note that presently M/s Om Constructions was collecting the sopo fee, which is expiring on March 31. As such there is a necessity to initiate the procedure to award contracts for the financial year 2024-25. And as per the calculations, the bidding price has been fixed to Rs 1.77 crore, including GST, which is considered as the highest one.
Recently, at the special meeting called to discuss the issue by the MMC many city fathers had raised their objections to such a high bidding price and fear of illegalities.
Councillor Mahesh Amonkar said that taking into consideration the high bidding price, hardly any contractor will come forward for the bidding process.
“The situation is such that the civic body has not raised the sopo fees and hence if by chance any contractor manages to get the contract he will suffer losses, as he cannot collect more money other than what has been fixed by the MMC,” he said. He further said that it will result in extracting more money from the vendors illegally by the contractor, which will certainly affect the vendors engaged in small businesses.
Amonkar also suspected that the high bidding price is towards favouring the present contractor. “If nobody takes part in the bidding process, the civic body may ask the present contractor to continue,” he said.
Camilo Barretto, another Councillor said that such a high bidding price is to favour certain people.
“I doubt if anybody will ever dare to participate in the bidding process after looking at the high price. In an attempt to recover the amount, there are more chances that the concerned contractor may collect money illegally,” Barretto said.
Mohandar Borkar, a resident of Margao, alleged that such types of attempts are done deliberately to benefit the person of their liking.
However, Damodar Shirodkar, Chairperson, MMC defended the bidding price, but assured the Council of working out some solution in this regard. “The civic body will see to it that the revenue collection process won’t be hit due to the high bidding price,” he said.
