Margao: The Margao Municipal Council resolved to levy Professional Tax on professionals such as lawyers, doctors, engineers etc who are providing their services within the Margao Municipal area. Inspired by the Corporation of Panjim, Chairperson Dr Babita Prabhudesai placed the proposal that was passed in-principal. The Chairperson said that the associations will be called for a meeting to take their suggestions before finalising the proposal. “The tax will be levied on professionals who do not pay trade tax and sanitation fees”, said Prabhudesai. The Chief Officer Siddhivinayak Naik estimated that Rs 25 lakhs revenue can be collected as Professional tax.
The Chairperson proposed that it the works of painting and plastering will be done by Municipality and not GSUDA. The Council had submitted a proposal to GSUDA for the renovation of the Municipality and Lohia Maidan. However, since the municipal building is in urgent need of maintenance, the Chairperson suggested that the Municipality should execute the work by floating a tender.
A Councilor, Ketan Kurtarkar slammed the chairperson for not taking up maintenance works in the last three years. “Our council has completed three years and in spite of revenue generated, the funds are not spent on the maintenance of the Municipal Building. Councilors files are missing, no place to keep files. The administration doesn’t exist. There is no place to sit in the technical section”, he said.
The Chairperson informed that Rs 50 lakhs have been provided in the annual budget and asked a counsellor, Glen Andrade, to work with the technical section to prepare the estimates for the renovation works.
Councilor Rupesh Mahatme raised the issue of the height of the road around the Municipal Garden. “Earlier the footpath was higher than the road but today the road is higher than the footpath”, he said. The councillors supported Mahatme stating that it’s happening all over the city. The Chairperson directed the CO to write to PWD to remove existing layers of asphalt before laying a new layer.
With regards to Outline Development Plan for Margao city, Chairperson informed that some councillors have not given their suggestions. Municipality decided to give NOC to go ahead with draft ODP. Last month, the South Goa Planning and Development Authority had a meeting with the Municipality and asked the councillors for their suggestions related to the zone changes in their wards.
The council congratulated CO for a good revenue drive and unanimously resolved to support the efforts of the CO to ensure revenue recovery. Councillor Ketan Kurtarkar raised the issue of non-payment of rent by Gandhi market. “Municipality has done a good thing by fining them Rs 25000 but the rent of these shops for the last many years have to be recovered.”, he said. The Chairperson replied by stating that they will take a legal opinion on what action can be taken against the defaulters.
The Council resolved to appoint the Municipal Clerk as the Public Information Officer in order to reduce the load on the Municipal Engineer who is the current PIO.
Municipal council also resolved to identify land to rehabilitate urban poor, repair the heritage stairs next to Hospicio Hospital, to shift the Muslim celebration of Julus to the Ravindra Bhavan road permanently, to declare the Ravindra Bhavan road as no parking zone, and to purchase a new car for the Chairperson but this time within permissible limit.
The Council also resolved to rename a road after late Konkani writer Madhavi Sardesai. Glen Andrade also proposed to rename a road behind Holy Spirit Church after the legendary musician Chris Perry.
