MARGAO
Does Margao town qualify as the State’s commercial capital? The extent of trade and commerce, spread across the town, may have bestowed on the town the status of Commercial capital over the years.
Sadly, this status of intense commercial activities does not seem to reflect in the Margao Municipal Council “ the civic body having jurisdiction over Margao, Fatorda and the Housing Board areas of Gogol.
For, while the city plays host to commercial activities not seen in other towns and villages, statistics dished out by the Margao Municipal Council speak otherwise.
Strange it may seem, but true that while thousands of commercial establishments do roaring business across the city, the Margao Municipality records show that less than 3,000 shops and establishments are operating with the mandatory Municipal licence, around 2,995 licenced establishments to be precise.
This brings to the moot question of how come business establishments carry out trade and commerce without the mandatory trade licence and the failure of the councillors and the powers that be to ensure that establishments operate in the town with the trade licence.
Statistics dished out by the civic body make reading interesting. While the civic body plays host to around 87,650 population as per the 2011 census, the number of residential households is pegged at 24,000, while 15,325 commercial establishments.
These statistics throw an interesting question how come the number of licenced establishments in the city is hovering around the 3,000-mark figure when the number of commercial establishments is pegged around 15,325.
Even Margao Municipal officials in private say the licenced establishments registered with the civic body are just a fraction of the total number of commercial establishments operating in the city, throwing up the same old question “ why are the civic body and its rulers lax in getting all the establishments registered with the Municipality and mop up revenue running into lakhs, if not crores of rupees by way of trade licence.
Says an official in the know: “We are not talking of the normal trade licence fee from these illegal commercial establishments, but revenue running into lakhs of rupees by way of rent from establishments operating from rented premises.”
Inquiries by The Goan have only revealed that there’s been no seriousness in the civic body to bring the unlicenced establishment under the tax net. While the city is playing host to new establishments, trade licences issued by the civic body has not seen a corresponding rise over the years.
The last time the civic body had made a serious attempt to bring the unlicenced commercial establishments under the tax net was around half a decade ago when the civic body roped in a private agency by spending lakhs of rupees to conduct mapping of the heart of the town. The survey had made startling revelations, exposing the civic body’s failure to bring the commercial establishments under the tax net.
Sadly, the survey report has been gathering dust in the records of the Municipality, with successive Municipal chairpersons giving the report a decent burial for reasons best known to the councillors and the powers that be.
In the bargain, the civic body has lost precious revenue not only from the trade licence head but from the signboards and advertisements. “We have only seen the civic body conducting piecemeal drives to bring the unlicenced premises under the tax net. There are no concerted drives ever carried out by the Margao Municipal body over the years, resulting in revenue drain right under the nose of the civic authorities, councillors and the powers that be,” remarked a retired civic official.
