Team Herald
PONDA: The Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) has recovered Rs 1.5 crore, including postdated cheques amounting to Rs 21 lakh, from shop owners at the Ponda Market Complex who had defaulted on rent payments since 2016.
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After repeated warnings and notices failed to prompt the defaulters to clear their arrears, PMC officials, including the Chief Officer, Municipal Engineer, supervisors, and other staff, sealed 24 shops for rent arrears totalling over Rs 2 crore. These arrears had accumulated over eight years.
PMC Chairperson Anand Naik commended the council staff for their efforts in recovering the dues. “The decisive action to seal shops yielded positive results, enabling PMC to recover over Rs 1.5 crore. Ninety-five per cent of the shop owners have now started making payments,” Naik said. He urged all shop owners to clear dues promptly to avoid penalties and interest charges on overdue rent.
The defaulters included ten shop owners who had subleased their premises at high rents while failing to pay PMC. These individuals were asked to clear their arrears in full immediately, without any extension. Shop owners managing businesses themselves were given the option to pay 50% of their dues immediately, with the balance payable within six months.
Some shop owners owed amounts as high as Rs 9 lakh, Rs 10 lakh, and even Rs 12 lakh. The mezzanine floor of the Market Complex housed all the 24 defaulter shops. The PMC’s strict measures have been lauded for enforcing financial discipline and significantly improving
rent collections.
