SHWETA KAMAT
shweta@herald-goa.com
It’s been nearly five years since N D Agarwal exposed the alleged city municipal market shops scam in 2013. The inquiry exposed that almost 95 per cent of shopkeepers are illegal occupants. However, down the line, Herald sees no action coming from the City Corporation (CCP), by way of either evicting the illegal occupants or signing valid lease agreements with the legal shop owners.
What is more interesting is that the Bombay High Court at Goa had, in 2014, directed CCP to initiate recovery of arrears of rent and evict illegal occupants from shops in the city municipal market. It had given CCP six months to execute the order. But despite this, lack of support from government, often forced the civic body to go slow on the matter.
Even today, months after the CCP forwarded the draft leave and licence agreement to the Government for approval; the official nod is still awaited, said a source. In absence of the agreement, the Corporation is reportedly in no position to sign the agreement with the legal tenants, the source added.
“The Commissioner has already sent the draft agreement to the Government for approval but till now it has not come back with proper approval. Once government grants its approval, we will immediately start the process of signing the agreement,” CCP market committee chairman Uday Madkaikar told Herald.
Sources revealed that every time the agreement is forwarded to the Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA), it is sent back seeking modifications. “It is known fact that majority of the illegal tenants there have blessings of several former and present corporators. Under such situation, it is always difficult to act against the illegal occupants,” sources said.
What is interesting to note is that Madkaikar, is one of the accused, who is booked for illegal sale of shops. In the 2011 market scam, the complainant had accused Madkaikar of taking around Rs 3 lakh for allotting a shop in the market but giving it away to another person.
As per the draft, the lease agreement will be signed for a period of three to five years with rent charges of 256 per sq m as approved by public works department, with those tenants, who place on record all the documents related to purchase of the shop.
CCP treasury is running without any rent from the tenants since the inception of market complex in 2002. The amount pending due is around Rs 20 crore. Also, there are water and electricity charges amounting to Rs 10 crore, which are yet to be paid off.
Then Mayor and sitting corporator Surendra Furtado had made several attempts to sign the lease agreements with the legal tenants, however, CCP was locked in ‘chicken or egg’ situation. The tenants too had agreed to sign the lease agreement, provided it was for a period of 50 years and not three years.
The Corporation has issued the order under Section 4(1) of the Goa Public (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1988.
