PONDA: Ponda market shed vendors have decided to pay sopo of
only Rs 3.33 per sq mts monthly to the Ponda Municipal Council (PMC).
Market leader Kishore Mamlekar argued that the PMC, on
August 26, passed a resolution to charge monthly rent of Rs 100 per sq mts from
48 shop operating from the new market complex, which is Rs 3.33 per sq mts
daily. He stated that the shop owners had secure premises, while the market
vendors were operating in a shed that offered no protection to them or their
goods at night. He stated that despite this disadvantage, the market vendors
were charged Rs 360 per sq mts – or Rs 12 per day – which they have been paying
under protest for the last few months.
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He stated that this was a great injustice to the market
vendors and questioned why they had to pay more than the shopkeepers. He added,
“Despite our agitations against the sopo hike, we have been neglected by
the PMC. Henceforth, all market shed vendors will stop paying sopo at Rs 12,
which they are paying under protest since the matter is in court. They will pay
Rs 3.33, which is fixed for the shop keepers in the new market complex.”
