Team Herald
MARGAO: The Margao Municipal Council (MMC) sopo collection tender was bagged by Aaron Fernandes, who is reported to be from Quepem, although he gave a Margao address in the tender form.
He has bagged the right to collect sopo in Margao, as he offered to pay the council Rs 65,17,088.
Tenders for sopo collection were to be invited before the end of the last financial year but it was delayed and the Shadow Council of Margao had alleged that the delay was to help the sopo collector get the benefit of an extension.
In fact, the MMC decided to extend the sopo tender by levying 25 per cent extra fees but the same was later reduced to 15 per cent and the previous contractor continued to collect sopo for 2 more months.
Fernandes will now collect the sopo for only 10 months and his bid was Rs 10,000 higher than the nearest one and hence he was given the contract.
“The very fact that we had a transparent and clean auction where a new person bagged the contract proves that the council had no ulterior intention or motives as far as the sopo collection was concerned,” MMC Chairperson Babita Prabhudessai said.
She dismissed the allegations made by Shadow Council of Margao and asserted that the present council is determined to improve the revenue of the council and added that the trade tax collection has been the highest ever that no other council earlier achieved.
