TEAM HERALD
PONDA: The controversial Sopo tax has continued to preoccupy the Ponda Municipal Council (PMC), with the council on Tuesday deciding to auction the Sopo contract for the new financial year 2015-16.
The ruling group of nine councillors outnumbered the five councillors who objected to the proposal on grounds that the old Sopo contract issue, which had generated a lot of controversy last year, should have been discussed first.
The ruling group decided that the Sopo tax rates which will be decided after consulting with the Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA).
PMC Chairperson Radhika Naik refuted the demand of opposition Councillor Shivanand Sawant to discuss the old Sopo contract issue, stating that it was not on the agenda at the meeting.
Later when media persons reminded her that the issue regarding the old Sopo Tax was sub-judice, Naik declined to comment in the matter.
During the meeting, Sawant and four other members insisted on a discussion of the old Sopo issue. They argued that it was improper for the council to go in for a new Sopo tax, when the PMC had failed to recover the Sopo tax collection amount from Sopo contractor.
Later speaking to reporters after the PMC meeting, Sawant said the Sopo contractor had paid only one instalment and not made further payments since the last six months.
Sawant claimed that the rules had stipulated that the contract could be terminated if the contractor did not make payments for three months in a row.
“Despite this, the contractor is collecting sopo contract. While the market shed vendors are not paying Sopo tax to the contractor, vendors outside the shed and the footpath are paying around Rs 19,300 per day. If other collections during festival days and market days are considered, then a six month collection could be nearly Rs 38 lakh, which is a huge loss to the PMC,” alleged Sawant.
Meanwhile, the PMC passed a surplus budget of nearly Rs 2 crore, with the income estimated as Rs 38.6 crore and the expenditure pegged at Rs 36.80 crore.
The PMC has also decided to send a proposal to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to hand over possession of around 22,000 sq. mtrs of land to PMC at Kranti Maidan. In exchange, the State government could consider giving 22,000 sq. mtrs of land to the military from another part of the State.
