the goan I network
PANAJI
Commissioner of the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) Ajit Roy has confirmed that the only thing standing in the way of the lease agreements being signed between the CCP and the alleged illegal shops in the Panaji Municipal Market (PMM) is the Health Department handing over the land it owns in the market to the CCP.
The CCP has so far not been able to sign the lease agreements because it does not own all the land in the market. The issue of the shops in the market not paying rent to the CCP, which has run into crores of ruppees till date, is a long standing one, and for years has not been resolved. Last year, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had decided to bring in an IAS officer as commissioner to resolve the issues of the market once and for all.
A year after the new commissioner has taken over, the issue of the shops in the market not paying its dues to the CCP still seems to be on the back burner. In June, the commissioner had said that a tripartite agreement between the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (GSIDC), Health Department and the CCP needed to be signed before the alleged illegal shops would be asked to sign lease agreements with the CCP.
Speaking to The Goan, Roy informed that there was now no need for this tripartite agreement. “Such an agreement is not required as the GSIDC has already completed its work and transferred the site to the CCP. Some part of the land that is currently with the Health Department needs to be transferred to the CCP. Maybe, this will be done on lease basis,” said the commissioner, even as he reiterated that this plan of action was only in the pipeline and that nothing was on paper yet. “We are following up with the Health Department on that and will take a decision soon,” he said.
When Surendra Furtado was mayor, the CCP had prepared an estimate of Rs 5 crore for maintenance of the Municipal Market, which they expected to get from the Rs 20-crore budget allocated to the CCP. However, the government wrote to them saying that maintenance funds of the market could well be covered by collecting the dues owed to the CCP by these illegal shops. The matter however, has still not been taken forward, while the Commissioner says that many papers in this
regard have been sent to the government and are awaiting approval.
