CANACONA
The Canacona Municipal Council (CMC) has decided to issue licences to seasonal tourism operators by levying the existing licence fees.
At a meeting on Thursday, the CMC also approved a plan to construct an administrative-cum-multipurpose building worth Rs 11 crore and to get Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to lay the foundation stone for the project on October 20.
There was some objection from former CMC chairpersons Prathana Naikgaunkar and Samita Dhuri, after they claimed the plan was not presented in the council before getting it approved. Councillor Kishore Shet also objected to the date, but finally settled for October 20.
The council also decided to enhance fees to issue NOCs for new water and electricity connections.
In another decision, the council resolved to go ahead with necessary procedures on staff promotions and regularise staff on probation.
According to sources, almost all CMC staff, while on regular appointments, continue to work on probation and issue of regularisation has been pending till date.
When the issue of shack permits came up for discussion, some councillors wanted to reduce the fees by 50% as demanded by tourism stakeholders.
However, others felt that less than 10% of the citizens are engaged in tourism businesses and since the fees constitute an important source of income to the CMC coffers, the council decided to levy the existing fees to issue shack licences.
Chairperson Nitu S Dessai and all councillors were present in the meeting along with the chief officer and the municipal engineer.
