MARGAO: The Margao Municipal Council and especially its Chief Officer Siddhivinayak Naik has been credited with large recoveries of arrears of taxes, which were pending for years.
The Chief Officer soon after he reported to Margao had discontinued acceptance of cheques in payment of taxes, on the pretext that many cheques were bouncing. However, Siddhivinayak had not found any convenient way of serving the citizens in the much publicised cashless system of the government, until a complaint was made by a citizen to the Director of Municipal Administration.
It was then that the payment of taxes was started by swiping cards.
Lately, when a senior citizen went to the MMC for payment of taxes, he was informed that not only cheques are not accepted but the system of swiping cards too has been discontinued for some time.
Attempts to call on the Chief Officer failed, as he was not in the office in the afternoon session. Citizens of Margao find it strange that MMC is trying to recover arrears and yet does not have the facility of accepting cashless payments, thus forcing people to procure expensive bank drafts.
The website for online payments is also not easily accessible, besides the fact that not everyone has an Internet connection.
