VASCO: Mormugao Municipal Council witnessed heated discussions over pending dues from sopo contractor, payment of bills without the approval from standing committee as well as questions over the usage of night soil tanker, at the council meeting on Monday.
It has to be noted that the civic body had given a contract of collecting sopo tax to a contractor who still owes the MMC more than Rs 20 lakh in pending dues. The contractor expressed his inability to pay the same and cited the hike in sopo from Rs 5 to Rs 15 per square metres had affected sopo collection. He claimed that many vendors refuse to pay the increased sopo tax and the council decided to find an appropriate solution to the problem.
Councillors raised their voices against the payments of certain bills without the approval from the standing committee. The matter of purchasing a night soil tanker also came up for discussion. Some councillors highlighted the fact that the respective tanker cannot drive in and out of the internal roads which are extremely narrow and stated that buying a smaller vehicle would have been more useful.
However, the chief officer reminded the attendees that the respective tanker was purchased only after everyone’s consent. Issue of MMC’s garage section was also discussed as some pointed out the lack of maintenance of the civic body’s vehicles which are not paid enough attention.
Meanwhile, the MMC had received a letter regarding NOC for building a hall in the land of Dev Damodar Trust. The municipality however, made it clear that they cannot issue NOC as the Revenue Department is in the possession of the respective land.
