VASCO: The opposition Congress party has urged the Mormugao municipal council not to waive Rs 12 crore owed to them by the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) as it would set a wrong precedent.
Reacting to the Mormugao municipal council’s decision to allow the HPCL to pay Rs 15 crore as One-Time Settlement (OTS) offer, former bureaucrat and Congress leader Elvis Gomes on Sunday said that the Mormugao municipality should recover full pending amount of Rs 27 crore utilise it for the welfare of the citizens of Mormugao.
Gomes also appealed to the councillors to first help the small shop owners, who are lessees in the vasco market as well as municipal council owned buildings by reducing their overdues.
“Mormugao municipal council is often in financial trouble unable to pay employees and pensioners in time with no funds for public welfare works. It should build up its financial position to take care of these things first”, Gomes said exhorting councillors not to fall into a trap of causing financial loss to the council to serve the interest of one lessee.
“Serve the interest of your own people and free the land in occupation of oil companies as was the understanding when oil tanks were built at Zuarinagar and underground pipelines were allowed to be laid through the town” Gomes said, reminding the council that there was no reason for oil tanks to be there in the port town anymore.
