Team Herald
MARGAO: Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai and Chief Officer Siddhivinayak Naik held a press briefing to inform the status of the anti-encroachment and tax collection drive.
Prabhudesai said she is proud of the chief officer for carrying out the drive without buckling under pressure and also of all the councillors member for not interfering with the CO. “Pantiloon came and paid Rs 34 lakh; the Municipality also received Rs 6 lakh from Archie’s,” she said.
The Chief Officer while thanking the Chairperson for her support stated, “We are going ahead with anti-encouragement drive and revenue mobilisation. On 24th August municipality had published an advertisement in newspapers asking people to clear encroachments and pay their dues. People were told to keep documents with them in the shops. We identified 82 high net worth businesses and peanuts they are giving the municipality.”
Naik further stated, “We went to the high net worth shops and gave handed them notices. We didn’t get any response. We had to use harsh language to get things done. It was a matter of revenue for municipality so we had to go any extent with the law.”
The CO thanked the press for bringing to the fore certain issues which were pending for a long time. “This is an ongoing process. Rupees twenty-two crore were pending in the form of arrears. We took a decision to intensify our campaign to recover the amount”, he said. The CO clarified that not all 82 shops were defaulters. “They asked for time to go submit documents. Some did not have their documents and asked for time,” he said.
“If we do combing operations of each and every establishment in Margao Municipality, there are around 100 crores pending dues since the last 10 years. People claim that the shops they gave on lease are self-occupied, even those which were given to banks. Rent that was paid was 2.5 to 5 lakh but the Municipality was getting 8000 fees instead. One bank didn’t pay the trade license fees since 2004. Do bank managers expect us to shut the banks down in order to collect revenue? If we do this, people will suffer. People must not be inconvenienced. We are going to put out a list of all defaulters in the press against the amount be outstanding,” the CO said.
The CO informed that going further, they are in talks with National Informatics Center in order to put in a system in place where unless the lease agreement is entered trade license won’t be generated. “We are trying to set up blockchain technology. Our target is 12 crores a year which we can achieve it within 2-3 months. Just in the last two days, we have collected around 60 lakhs. “
The Chairperson informed that notices have been issued of in the tune of 2.5 crores pending trade licence fees and that around Rs 5 lakh worth goods confiscated on Wednesday.
