Team Herald
MARGAO: It has been revealed that the Margao civic body’s outstanding arrears of over Rs 35 crore would have been reduced to just a few lakhs, if the Municipality had implemented the project pertaining to the data collection of un-assessed premises, which was initiated back in 2009.
Several citizens of Margao told Herald that many loyal tax-payers have now stopped paying their taxes as a protest against the Municipality’s lack of interest in collecting fees and taxes from the premises that are yet to be assessed.
Former MMC chairperson Savio Coutinho told Herald that in 2009, during his tenure, a project pertaining to recovery of dues was initiated wherein data was collected about the un-assessed premises in the jurisdiction of the Margao municipality.
“After conducting the survey in each ward, it was decided to collect the arrears from 2009 onwards, but interference from the political leaders created major hurdles in implementing the same,” alleged Coutinho.
He said through the survey, the civic body had listed nearly 9,000 premises which were previously not assessed and at least Rs 81 lakh could have been easily recovered then.
“There are hundreds of illegal houses in and around Margao and the civic body is not getting a single rupee from the owners, in the form of taxes. Shockingly, the Municipality is giving them all the services, including garbage collection,” said Gurudatta Borkar, a citizen of Margao.
He also questioned the municipality over the illegal slum settlements that have mushroomed in Margao, whose occupants make use of the city’s facilities without paying taxes and sanitation fees.
