PONDA: The Ponda market has become a virtual battleground, with the Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) and local market vendors clashing over several issues, including the sopo hike, footpath vending and the narrow market passage. It has even witnessed several bandhs in the last one-and-a-half years.
The sopo issue began in 2014, when the PMC hiked the sopo tax from Rs 5 to Rs 20 and assigned the sopo collection to a contractor for around Rs 80 lakh, including service and garbage tax. Around 350 market shed vendors had objected to the “exorbitant” sopo hike and stopped paying the same to the contractor after two months.
After several protests and complaints to the Director of Municipal Administration (DMA), the then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar intervened in the matter, following which new sopo rates of Rs 12 per square metres in the market shed and Rs 6 in the open space had been fixed.
However, the vendors want the sopo rolled back to Rs 5 per square metre for all vendors. They have also taken the sopo issue to the High Court, which directed the DMA to settle issue. However, the DMA only confirmed the rates fixed by Parrikar. The vendors have also alleged that the PMC had indulged in corruption during the sopo auction process.
Ponda MLA Lavoo Mamledar has backed them and even filed a complaint against the PMC with the vigilance department. He also alleged that the six ruling councillors were neglecting and not cooperating with them to settle the issues and that the council was scheduling meeting at times when he was busy.
Besides the sopo issue, the market vendors have been involved in several scuffles with footpath vendors, with several cases being filed against each other.
Market leader Kishore Mamlekar claimed that footpath vendors were operating illegally with the encouragement of the PMC. He stated that people preferred to buy goods from the footpath vendors instead approaching vendors inside the market, due to which the market vendors have been facing a drop in business.
Additionally, the mouth of market access passage has a width of only one metre, which is another reason people avoid entering the market.
The vendors had recently gheraoed Mamlatdar for allegedly failing to resolve their issues as promised during a meeting with the PMC, South Goa Collector, Ponda Dy SP, and vendors. At the meeting, Mamlatdar asked them to deposit the arrears of the sopo with the PMC, and in return, the PMC would solve the issues of sopo, footpath vending and passage widening.
However, even after the vendors paid Rs 9 lakh to the PMC as sopo, the latter did not resolve their issues. They claimed to have suffered many losses during Ganesh Chaturthi as people preferred buying matoli items from the footpath vendors instead of using the narrow path to the market.
The market vendors have again decided to stop paying the sopo until the PMC settles the issue. They have also demanded that the councillors and MLA visit the market and sort out their problems.
Meanwhile, PMC chairperson Radhika Naik refuted the allegations of the vendors and justified the sopo hike. She stated that the sopo rates hadn’t been hiked for several years and that the PMC had decided to raise the rates during the financial year 2014-15 in view of the rising charges of electricity, water and garbage collection.
She also alleged that Mamledar had attended only two or three PMC meetings and that he was only speaking to the press about the market vendors’ issues.
Ponda councillor and market vending committee president Venkatesh Naik stated that there were no issues in the market, and if any exists, then the same has been created by the vendors and MLA for political gains. He stated that the PMC is doing a good job and providing better services to the market vendors. He also requested Mamledar to convey his grievances at a council meeting.
Regarding the footpath vending issue, he stated that although the matter is sub judice, they could not remove the footpath vendors without rehabilitating them.
“The market vendors are not regularly depositing the sopo taxes with the council, which has to pay the hefty electricity and water charges of the market vendors and also regularly clear the garbage from the huge market. Regarding the passage widening issue, we have not altered the existing passage. Further, if we widen the passage, the area that will be used for the widening is disputed land. The PMC cannot widen the market passage by encroaching on that land,” said Naik.
