Unrecovered dues dent Margao’s growth prospects

MARGAO
As the curtain falls on the current financial year this Tuesday and a new fiscal year begins on April 1, the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) is coming to terms with a concerning reality—its revenue recovery efforts are far from satisfactory.
While the cash collection section is gearing up to accept revenue collections from the start of the new financial year, the civic body is burdened with a staggering Rs 33.28 crore in pending revenue arrears. This shortfall looms large over the A-Class municipal council, which governs the entire city—widely regarded as the State’s commercial capital.
The scale of these unpaid dues is likely to raise eyebrows among citizens, especially considering that timely recovery of such funds could have significantly contributed to the city’s development and infrastructure growth.
The mounting arrears may also reflect poorly on both the municipal administration and the elected representatives, especially the ruling council, which is seen by many as having a firm grip over the civic body’s functioning. Although the MMC has appointed a retired government official as a recovery officer, questions continue to be raised—both within civic circles and outside—over the scale of the arrears that now haunt the municipal body.
A closer look at the figures shows that a substantial portion of the dues stems from house tax and sanitation charges. Together, these two heads account for Rs 24.81 crore of the total arrears, indicating that poor recovery of house tax has also contributed to a significant backlog in sanitation (garbage) tax.
Trade tax and sanitation (trade) form another major component of the outstanding dues. While arrears under trade tax stand at Rs 11.88 crore, an additional Rs 1.61 crore remains unpaid under sanitation (trade). Meanwhile, revenue from signboards (advertising) has also seen a sharp rise in arrears, touching nearly Rs one crore—around Rs 99.88 lakh, to be precise.
What is equally striking is that nearly Rs one crore remains outstanding as rent from municipal properties, pointing to gaps in the civic body’s internal revenue collection mechanisms. As of March 30, 2026, total outstanding rent stands at Rs 91.84 lakh.
Incidentally, Margao civic chief Damu Shirodkar has expressed doubts over the accuracy of the figures compiled by the municipal office. When confronted with the scale of arrears, particularly under house tax and sanitation, he maintained that the computer-generated data may not accurately reflect the ground reality, particularly figures relating to house tax.
This, in turn, raises serious questions about data integrity and administrative efficiency, with critics asking why discrepancies in official records have yet to be addressed or rectified.