PONDA: The Ponda Municipal Council, at a meeting on Saturday, decided to initiate legal proceedings against Ponda market vendors for the recovery of sopo worth Rs 35 lakh, and to send a proposal to set up its own sewage treatment plant.
Regarding the sopo issue, the PMC has decided to send notices to the Ponda Market Vendors Association for the recovery of sopo worth Rs 35 lakh for 2014-15.
It may be recalled that, after refusing to pay sopo to a contractor, the market vendors’ association had given an undertaking that it would collect the fees from the vendors and pay the same to the PMC. However, after paying Rs 3.57 lakh for two months, the vendors stopped payment for the rest of the year, which amounts to around Rs 35 lakh.
After the meeting, PMC Chairperson Radhika Naik said that a leader of the market vendors’ was collecting the sopo but not depositing the same with the PMC as per the undertaking.
The PMC has also decided to collect sopo from the market for 2016-17. It expects to get around Rs 75 lakh.
Regarding the STP, Naik said that the PMC had decided not to allow the work of the sewerage network initiated in its jurisdiction by the Sewerage Corporation. Incidentally, digging work for the project has already begun.
Naik stated that the PMC was opposing the work as the Sewerage Corporation had not informed them about the STP location or pipeline layout. She added that the PMC had resolved to send its own proposal for an STP on 4,000 sq mts of land in Panditwada. “The Sewerage Corporation engineers have inspected the site and said that it is feasible. The Chief Officer has been directed to approach the landowner to either get his NOC or go for the land acquisition process,” said Naik.
It may be recalled that the PMC has been opposing the ongoing work of the sewerage network, which is an initiative of Ponda MLA, citing no proper permission and lack of planning. Information about the STP site had also not been conveyed to the PMC, due to which the PMC couldn’t clear doubts of the residents.
As seven rickshaws were recently procured for garbage collection, the PMC is thinking about reducing the number of workers involved in the same. Naik also shot down allegations by an NGO that there was a scam in the payment to daily wage workers involved in garbage collection.
The PMC has also resolved to beautify the city bus stand and Indira Market through GSUDA, and appoint a community organizer to launch Central government schemes.
, such as Swachh Bharat and construction of toilets. Amol Kavlekar has been appointed the community organizer. The inspection of sites for the toilets is underway.
The PMC also constituted a Traffic Management Committee under the chairmanship of Councillor Irvin Soares and including Sitaram Dangi and Deputy Chairperson Shantaram Colvekar. The committee will form a traffic plan and mark parking spaces to decongest the Ponda town within two months.
