The five councillors, Shivanand Sawant, Vincent Paul Fernandes, Vidya Punalekar, Nidhi Mamlekar and Geetali Talavlikar, strongly opposed PMC’s resolution to auction sopo contract for the new financial year and claimed that it was a bitter experience as PMC suffered losses due to the sopo tax hike in 2014-15.
Demanding an enquiry into the sopo issue, the five councillors requested the DMA to check if there was any mismanagement with regard to the sopo tax, as the contractor failed to pay sopo collection fees despite directions by PMC chief officer in August 2014.
The councillors in their memorandum demanded implementation of National Vending policy on a priority basis.
Copies of memorandum have also been forwarded to the chief minister, ministers for PWD and urban development, and Ponda MLA Lavoo Mamledar.
