MMC recovers part rent arrears from BP

MARGAO, SEPT 7  
Margao Municipal Council’s determined drive to recover a whopping Rs 35 lakh rent arrears from the petroleum companies having petrol pumps in the Commercial capital seems to have tasted first success with Bharat Petroleum making part payments to the civic body on Tuesday.
A week after the civic body raised a demand notice on Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum to settle the rent arrears within 15 days, Bharat Petroleum on Tuesday submitted a cheque of Rs 10.54 lakh as 50 per cent payment of the total arrears.
“The company has assured to clear the balance payments soon”, MMC Chairperson Savio Coutinho said, and hoped that Hindustan Petroleum would follow suit and clear the Rs 12 lakh arrears as on October 2009.
The Margao Municipal Council at the initiative of Coutinho had launched the exercise to recover the huge arrears from the two petroleum companies which was not collected by the civic body for years now.
In fact, Chairperson Coutinho had given the nod to the Chief Officer Y B Tawde to issue the demand notice on the two petroleum companies and had even threatened to attach the pumps if they fail to clear the dues within 15 days.