MARGAO
This may ring in good news for the Margao Municipal Council on the revenue recovery front during the Christmas festivities with the outstanding tax arears hovering at a whopping Rs 16-odd crore.
For the first time since the Municipality launched a concerted drive to recover the huge tax arrears after Chief Officer Johnson Fernandes assumed charge of the Civic body, MMC officials have recovered around Rs 9.73 lakh house tax on a single day on Tuesday, taking the outstanding arrears recovered so far to around
This may ring in good news for the Margao Municipal Council on the revenue recovery front during the Christmas festivities with the outstanding tax arears hovering at a whopping Rs 16-odd crore.
For the first time since the Municipality launched a concerted drive to recover the huge tax arrears after Chief Officer Johnson Fernandes assumed charge of the Civic body, MMC officials have recovered around Rs 9.73 lakh house tax on a single day on Tuesday, taking the outstanding arrears recovered so far to around
Rs 60 lakh.
The newly-appointed Chief Officer, who was drafted for the Margao Municipal Council with the avowed objective of streamlining the revenue recoveries and put the Sonsodo garbage issue back on the track, had set recovery target of Rs 10 lakh a day in a bid to cap the recoveries within
3-4 months.
The concerted drive, which was started by the new Chief Officer with a dedicated band of workers has started giving results as is evident by the fact that the workers have managed to recover around Rs five lakh a day on an average. That's not all. For the first time, household owners have voluntarily come to the Civic body to clear the outstanding dues with the Chief Officer moving a proposal to the Power department to disconnect power supply to the tax defaulters.
"I have set a target to the Municipal workers to recover Rs 10 lakh a day in order to wipe out the total outstanding arrears within 3-4 months. Though the workers have put up a good job, achieving the set target would helped to cap the entire exercise at the earliest", he said.
As part of a crackdown against the tax defaulters, Chief Officer Johnson had written a letter to the electricity department to disconnect power supply to the 17 builders on grounds that the Civic body has withdrawn the NOC issued to the department to release power connection to these parties.
While senior Power officials were skeptical in implementing the recommendation made by the MMC Chief Officer to disconnect power supply to the erring builders, sources in the know said that Johnson is believed to have personally called on the concerned power officials to see reason and act against the Municipal tax defaulters.
Of the total Rs 16 crore arrears, house tax arrears alone account for close to Rs 7-8 crore, while the sanitation fee arrears is pegged over Rs five crore.
The newly-appointed Chief Officer, who was drafted for the Margao Municipal Council with the avowed objective of streamlining the revenue recoveries and put the Sonsodo garbage issue back on the track, had set recovery target of Rs 10 lakh a day in a bid to cap the recoveries within
3-4 months.
The concerted drive, which was started by the new Chief Officer with a dedicated band of workers has started giving results as is evident by the fact that the workers have managed to recover around Rs five lakh a day on an average. That's not all. For the first time, household owners have voluntarily come to the Civic body to clear the outstanding dues with the Chief Officer moving a proposal to the Power department to disconnect power supply to the tax defaulters.
"I have set a target to the Municipal workers to recover Rs 10 lakh a day in order to wipe out the total outstanding arrears within 3-4 months. Though the workers have put up a good job, achieving the set target would helped to cap the entire exercise at the earliest", he said.
As part of a crackdown against the tax defaulters, Chief Officer Johnson had written a letter to the electricity department to disconnect power supply to the 17 builders on grounds that the Civic body has withdrawn the NOC issued to the department to release power connection to these parties.
While senior Power officials were skeptical in implementing the recommendation made by the MMC Chief Officer to disconnect power supply to the erring builders, sources in the know said that Johnson is believed to have personally called on the concerned power officials to see reason and act against the Municipal tax defaulters.
Of the total Rs 16 crore arrears, house tax arrears alone account for close to Rs 7-8 crore, while the sanitation fee arrears is pegged over Rs five crore.
