They claimed PMC was harassing them for the sopo tax and demanded that the system be abolished permanently. They were also against awarding the sopo collection to any contractor.
Ponda market-shed leader Kishore Mamlekar said they had demanded that the vigilance department conduct an inquiry into the sopo contract of the last financial year and that action be taken against the contractor for issuing bad cheques to PMC.
He informed that although PMC had decided to award the contract for the current financial year from September, the vendors would not pay the sopo tax as decided earlier. He said they will challenge PMC on various grounds and on legal points.
