OLD GOA: In an open admission at the gram sabha on Sunday, the Corlim sarpanch Supriya Kerkar informed the villagers that the panchayat is dumping the garbage collected in the village, near the Banastarim bridge.
Kerkar made the admission after the villagers sought to know how the panchayat is disposing the garbage collected from the village.
Later, speaking to Herald Kerkar informed that the panchayat does not have a dumping site and hence the garbage is dumped near the bridge. “We do not have any other alternative,” she further added when it was pointed out that garbage dumping in the open is an offence.
Earlier, the villagers confronted the sarpanch over the expenditure of Rs 2.92 lakh towards collection and disposal of garbage, which they said was very high considering the fact that the waste collection was done only in four wards.
Further, the villagers raised question over the payment done for garbage collection through vouchers, and that too to the panchas. “This is a wrong practice followed by the panchayat as there is no guarantee that the actual collection has been done or not,” said one of the villagers while demanding that a prominent villager from each ward should be appointed to confirm the same.
Baptist Pereira then raised eyebrows over the claims of garbage collection by the panchayat when Syngenta has been involved in garbage collection in the village. “When Syngenta is collecting tonnes of garbage from the village, then how come the panchayat spend such a huge amount on the same activity?” he questioned.
However, Sarpanch Kerkar said that Syngenta is involved in door-to-door waste collection while the panchayat is collecting garbage thrown in open spaces and roadsides.
But, not satisfied with the replies, the villagers then moved a resolution rejecting the expenditure done by the panchayat for collection and disposal of garbage.
The issue of house tax assessment was also discussed at length with the Secretary Oswin Mascarenhas stating that a survey of houses will be done in the village and the work will be outsourced to an eligible agency, after due tendering process.
“House tax will be charged as per built up area,” Mascarenhas said while stating that the agency involved will also collect data on the number of rooms that are rented out so that the panchayat gets revenue in terms of house rent tax.
However, a local Johnny Pereira said that since the panchayat earns huge revenue, it should try and decrease the taxes and not increase them.
To this, Deputy Sarpanch Victor Pereira said that the last time the house tax assessment was done was during the term of the previous panchayat body, and it was done in a faulty manner.
“Favouritism was shown to certain households while others were levied with a hefty amount,” Pereira said and stated that this time the tax assessment will be done in a fair manner, which will automatically result in the reduction of amount in the house tax of most of the households.
