MARCOS GONSALVES
marcos@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Struggling to recover even the bare minimum in taxes owed to it, the Margao Municipal Council is facing a tough battle to reach its target of outstanding tax arrears of nearly Rs. 32 crore, including house tax, sanitation fees and trade licences. MMC has just eight months left to recover the daunting figure, as there will be more arrears added by the end of the financial year.
Herald’s investigation has revealed that the MMC, considered an ‘A-Class municipality’, has failed to serve notices to several households and even to commercial establishments for several years now.
Due to the lack of a dedicated team to aid in recovery of dues, Recovery Officer RajendraBhagat, whose term has been extended for another six months, is forced to manage with existing resources.
However, the Council has continued to function as the recovery of Rs seven to eight lakh per day is able to cover the monthly salaries of hundreds of staff employed by the civic body. Sources said that the Council requires around Rs 2 crore per month for salaries of the employees, honorarium of the city fathers and other miscellaneous expenses.
Earlier, its huge salary needs, and poor recovery of dues had forced the MMC to prematurely withdraw its fixed deposit certificates to arrange for funds. The Recovery Officer told Herald that till date, the total outstanding house tax arrears, including sanitation fees is pegged at a whopping Rs. 27 crore. Adding to this figure, the outstanding trade tax arrears work up to Rs 5 crore, totalling to a daunting Rs 32 crore.
After the appointment of a special recovery officer, MMC managed to recover Rs. 7-8 lakh per day, but the controversy over the Sopo contract forced the civic body to shift the duties of their staff from the recovery section to Sopo collection.
“Now, we have managed to rake in a sizable recovery, but there are lots of things to be improved in order to recover the huge amount of Rs. 32 crore, and that too, within eight months ,” said Bhagat.
It is also pertinent to note that the previous Chief Officer AgneloFernandes had initiated a special mission to recover the outstanding arrears when he had faced a tough time to release the salary of the employees on time.
Former Chairperson SavioCoutinho told Herald that the previous Council had with great fanfare, spent lakhs of rupees on a GIS survey through a private agency, and even after this survey (which was carried out as a pilot project for only ward no 14) , the Council was still losing over Rs 3.50 cr annually from Ward no 14.
“This pilot project has not been implemented yet, which is very shocking. What is equally disturbing is that out of 1,983 premises in the Osia Complex, near SGPDA market, only 63 premises had valid licenses; and in the Rangavi Complex, which is very close to the MMC building, only 21 out of 283 premises have valid trade licenses,” said Coutinho.
Reacting to the issue, MMC Chairperson Lyndon Pereira said that the civic body was trying hard to recover the dues. “Shortage of dedicated staff is hampering the recovery process,” he said.
