SHWETA KAMAT
shweta@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The cash-strapped Goa government has racked up revenue arrears to the tune of Rs 4,007 crore, 22.33 per cent of which has been pending for more than five years, revealed the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).
The auditing agency has called for urgent government intervention to clear the outstanding arrears of four major departments – Electricity, Commercial Taxes, Public Works Department (PWD) and Water Resources Department (WRD).
The CAG report on the Revenue Sector for the year ending March 2020 stated that with the passage of time, the chances of recovering arrears become low.
“The arrears of revenue pending collections in respect of some principal departments of the State Government as of March 31, 2020, were Rs 4,007.31 crore of which Rs 894.68 crore has been pending for more than five years,” CAG said.
The Commercial Tax department is the biggest defaulter on the recovery front. An amount to the tune of Rs 1,882.28 crore is pending to be recovered, of which Rs 778.90 crore has been pending for more than five years. The department said that 749 cases are pending in the Revenue Recovery Court (RRC).
The department said that it has been constantly making efforts to recover arrears outside the RRC and the dealers were persuaded to pay the dues and reminders were also issued.
The second major defaulter is the WRD, which has failed to recover more than Rs 1,548.66 crore over the years. The records of the WRD showed arrears due from the PWD for domestic and industrial water supply at Rs 1,060 crore and Rs 5.31 crore, respectively.
The PWD pumps water from the Salaulim Irrigation Project owned and managed by the WRD, to supply consumers after treatment. The WRD informed the CAG that it has sent a recovery notice to the PWD, which in turn has taken up the matter with the government.
The primary reason for the outstanding arrears was that the WRD had unilaterally revised the water charges for supply to PWD at Rs 15 per cu m, effective from 2013, and at Rs 20 per cu m, from 2016.
The PWD stated that the revised rate of raw water fixed by the WRD was much higher than the rate charged by it for the supply of treated water (Rs 2.50 per cu m to domestic consumers, after incurring all the costs for water treatment. While fixing the water charges, the WRD did not consult the PWD and had arbitrarily arrived at the rates, without considering the cost incurred for water treatment, distribution and the recovery rate of PWD from the end consumer.
Apart from this, there is another Rs 29.38 crore pending in the form of water tax, which the beneficiaries are asked to pay on priority. The other outstanding are hire charges of machinery, and rent from shops and halls.
The Electricity Department is due to recover Rs 439.50 crore from its consumers, against whom action in the form of disconnection of power and issuance of notices has been initiated.
Another Rs 136.87 crore is due for recovery from the PWD.
