MARGAO
Failure by the Margao Municipal Council to recover outstanding tax arrears amounting to a whopping Rs 38.19 crore (going by the reply placed on the floor of the House in the monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly) has thrown up a host of questions in the corridors of the civic body and outside.
Hold on. The non-recovery of the huge tax revenue coupled with the failure to plug the revenue leakage seems just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, an audit report compiled by the Accountant General earlier this year has shown glaring discrepancies in revenue mobilisation and to plug the revenue leakages by the civic body.
Apart from the tax collection and recovery of outstanding arrears, the audit has caught the Margao civic body on the wrong foot on a host of revenue matters, which could have enriched the civic coffers by several crores of rupees.
That’s not all. The audit has raised queries over the MMC’s failure to tap revenue on many heads, including rent from petrol pump owners and renewal of rent from mobile towers dotting the city et al.
SGPDA market
The audit raised the issue of non-payment of garbage fees amounting to a whopping Rs 1.12 crore by the SGPDA for the garbage collected by the civic body.
While the council replied that it would take legal advice to initiate the recovery proceedings before the court of law, the audit was categorical in saying that the matter may be taken to the State government to settle the issue at the earliest. The audit has recommended execution of recovery proceeding at the earliest.
The audit observed that the MMC had resolved to recover the outstanding garbage fees from the SGPDA at its meeting on July 22, 2022. It observed that a reminder on February 27, 2023 was
issued to the SGPDA to pay the arrears failing which the council may decide to discontinue the service of collection of garbage from the SGPDA market. However, no amount has been recovered from the SGPDA till date, the audit noted.
Mobile towers
Failure to collect the renewal fees from mobile tower operators has come to haunt the Margao Municipal Council. Civic officials pointed out that as per the latest PWD circular, the MMC now plays no role in issuing permissions for mobile towers. But, what about the towers sanctioned by the civic body before the latest PWD circular came into force?
The audit pointed out that Section 323 of the Municipalities Act, 1968, empowers the urban local bodies to charge a fee for granting permission to erect mobile towers. The permission so granted is valid for one year unless renewed.
As per information furnished by the MMC, the audit stated that 20 mobile towers have been erected in the jurisdiction of the council. It said the renewal fee in one case was calculated and submitted for approval. The renewal fee in the case of the remaining 19 towers is yet to be calculated and recovered from mobile tower operators.
The council has assured that the renewal fee in the case of all 20 mobile towers would be calculated and an annual fee collected from the mobile tower operators.
Rent from petrol pumps
The audit concluded that the internal mechanism of the council is weak since it has failed to implement the various provisions of the Goa Municipalities Act resulting in loss of revenue to the civic body. In fact, the audit recommended that the MMC should, at the earliest, improve its internal control checks.
The audit noticed that the MMC had issued notices to a petroleum company in March 2021 to execute the lease agreement. However, no further progress was made as per the records produced for the audit. The audit report stated that the MMC accepted the rent at 60 per cent below the actual rent applicable from a petroleum company, besides the non-execution of rent from the last many years.
In this respect, the audit sought to know whether the MMC has issued eviction notices to the petrol pump agencies under the Public Premises Unauthorised Eviction Act, 1988 for non-execution of the lease deed.
The audit notices that the petroleum company, which had executed the lease deeds, made the payment for two petrol pumps without implementing the 10 per cent annual rent, resulting in a short recovery of Rs 24.80 lakh rent to the civic body.
