MARGAO
The 10-day fair of the Holy Spirit Church feast of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception began on Wednesday, but the Margao Municipal Council is still to assess the number of stalls that have come in the fair on the Municipal land and the SGDPA ground and the potential revenue the body will earn in the next few days.
Even as the Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes tried to resolve the row over the erection of stalls on the SGPDA ground when the civic body has granted permission for the fair only on the Municipal land at Old Market, it has come to light that the Municipal officials have not yet surveyed the number of stalls that have come up in the fair.
Why the Trade and Taxation section has not listed the number of stalls and assess the potential revenue from the fair has left City Fathers and observers perplexed given that the cash-starved Council has an opportunity to enrich its coffers by levying fees on the stalls.
That’s not all. Questions are raised in the corridors of the civic body why the MMC Trade and Taxation Section departed from the established practice of collecting the revenue first from the hawkers and vendors before allotting them the space on the Municipal acquired land.
Taking strong objection to the indifference of the civic staff, an agitated Margao Municipal Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes is believed to have issued a memorandum to the concerned officials to get the fair surveyed and assess the revenue that will come to the civic body.
In fact, the Chief Officer is believed to have fixed a revenue slab for the MMC officials to collect from the fair.
Given the situation, the Taxation officers have now issued instructions to the Municipal market inspectors to descend in the feast fair on the Municipal land and collect fees from the vendors and hawkers.
In the meantime, MMC Chief Officer Agnelo has told the media that he held discussions with the contractor, who was involved in setting up stalls on the SGPDA ground, saying no final decision has been taken by the civic body till date.
SGPDA seeks clarification why it should not allow space for stalls sans MMC NOC
MARGAO: In an interesting development, the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGDPA) has sought clarification from the Margao Municipal Chief Officer over his letter requesting the PDA not to allow any space for the feast fair without obtaining NOC from the civic body.
SGPDA Member Secretary Ranjit Borkar has got back to the MMC Chief Officer, seeking clarification from the civic body over the exact reason for not allowing space for holding feast fair by the PDA in its own premises. This question assumes significance given that stalls have already come up on the SGPDA ground without the nod from the Council.
