MAPUSA
At a time when the raging Covid pandemic has brought economic disruption and caused widespread concern and stress among the common man, the Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC) on Wednesday unanimously decided to increase municipal tax/fee structure for various services provided by the council in Mapusa.
The decision to hike the tax was to perk up the revenue of the council ostensibly to bring about development in town.
The Mapusa civic body has already hiked the garbage tax by nearly 100 per cent some months back without discussing a word about it in the council.
MMC Chairperson Shubanghi Vaigankar informed the council that the fee structure adopted by the MMC was very low compared to other ‘B’ class municipal councils in the State and had not been increased for the last several years.
“In order to enhance revenue generation to carry out various developmental works and to make the council self-sustainable, we need to increase the fee structure,” Vaigankar said.
Senior councillor and former chairperson Sudhir Kandolkar said the council can go ahead and increase the fees but the hike has to be reasonable so the common man was not burdened.
Several other councillors also supported the move to hike the tax/fee which according to them was long overdue and the revenue generated could be utilised for development work.
MMC Vice Chairperson Chandrashekar Benkar assured the council that house tax on existing houses has not been increased but the hike was for repair license and construction fees of new houses.
Accordingly, the NOC for water and power connection has been hiked by more than 100 per cent in case of residential from Rs 200 to Rs 500 while for commercial the increase was more than 300 per cent from Rs 800 to Rs 2,500.
Similarly, repair license fees have been hiked by 100 per cent for residential from Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000 while for commercial it was increased by 200 per cent from Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000.
Occupancy fees for residential flats for an area up to 70 sq mt has been increased by 600 per cent from Rs 1,000 to Rs 7,000 while for shops and offices for an area of up to 20 sq mt it has been increased by over 300 per cent from Rs 2,000 to Rs 7,000.
For bungalows with an area of up to 100 sq mtrs, it has been hiked by more than 100 per cent from Rs 3,000 to Rs 7,000.
Correspondingly, rates for larger areas have also been fixed at a higher rate.
Likewise, fees for temporary permissions for exhibition, pandals for business, display of vehicles and reinstatement charges for road cutting have also seen a steep hike.
The fee for temporary kiosks (size 3x2) has been hiked by over 100 per cent from Rs 4,000 to Rs 10,000 for a period of 11 months.
