While some members wanted to pay the sopo, others wanted to wait until High Court pronounced its order on their petition challenging the hike in sopo rates.
The market vendors had met for a meeting on the sopo issue on Monday, and it soon witnessed heated arguments between the vendors. Vendor Garu Sawant, who has a good standing amongst the vendors, urged them to pay the sopo to PMC on the grounds that if the High Court’s decision goes against the vendors, they will not be evicted by the PMC as they have paid their taxes. He also asked them not to rely on Mamledar or other politicians who only give assurances.
Market leader Kishore Mamledar claimed that split occurred as Ponda Dy SP Sunita Sawant had held a separate meeting with some of vendors at Margao, where senior officials allegedly asked them not to agitate. Mamledar opined that the vendors should not pay the sopo as the matter sub judice. He also stated that they should file a complaint against the PMC chief officer for not following due procedure with respect to the sopo issue and not taking action against footpath vendors.
Mamledar submitted his resignation to refute allegations that he is selfishly working for the PMVA. However, the vendors rejected his resignation.
Meanwhile, Ponda MLA Lavoo Mamledar claimed that the authorities, including Dy SP Sunita Sawant and PMC chief officer are responsible for dividing the vendors. He alleged that despite being in the alliance govt, it was not cooperating to solve the market vendors’ issues. He requested the vendors to stand united to solve the sopo issue.
