The market vendors, on Saturday, held a protest meeting against the PMC notice, which was put up in the market on May 4.
Speaking on the occasion, Mamlekar said, “We are not bound to pay sopo on general notices. We have approached the High Court on the sopo hike matter, which is sub judice. Hence, giving notices for sopo recovery is not justifiable. Even the DMA order says sopo is to be paid on a daily basis. We were fighting over the sopo hike issue for the last two years, and henceforth, we will not be afraid of the PMC’s tactics, including the notices displayed in the Ponda market.”
He further said, “The PMC is accusing me of giving an undertaking to collect sopo from the vendors and deposit the same with the PMC. This is rubbish. I am not a contractor or middleman. We are not bothered about the PMC’s deadline. Let the day come. We will decide then.”
“Earlier, the sopo contractor used to visit the market and harass up to pay sopo. Now the PMC is doing the same thing. We are ready to fight the PMC, and for the last two years we have been doing it,” added Mamlekar.
He also stated that the vendors were ready to pay sopo on a daily basis, provided the PMC set reasonable rates. He said, “If the PMC staff wants to come and collect the sopo on day-to-day basis, we are ready to pay it. But the PMC should first decide suitable rates of the sopo.”
