TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Suffocating under revenue crunch, the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) is all set to sign lease agreements with the legal occupants of the municipal market shop and evict the illegal occupants.
Commissioner Sanjit Rodrigues has been directed to draft the lease agreement to be placed before the market committee at a special meeting scheduled for the first week of October, Mayor Surendra Furtado told media persons Friday.
Furtado, who heads the market committee, said that all the illegal shops would be auctioned along with taking necessary action against those involved in the illegal allotments.
CCP Commissioner had submitted a report on the status of occupancy of the city market shops, observing that 95 per cent of the occupants were occupying the shops illegally. The N D Agarwal Committee Report had also alleged illegalities in the allotment of shops and open spaces in the city market.
Furtado said that no fresh notices would be issued to the illegal occupants but direct action would be initiated once the lease agreements with the legal occupants are signed.
He stressed that illegal occupants will have to move out of the market after the market committee meets first week of October, where the draft would be placed for approval and accordingly the process would start.
The CCP has not received any revenue in the form of rent from the shops occupants since agreements are yet to be signed. The CCP is saddled with arrears of the municipal market electricity and water bills running into a crores of rupees.
