While civic body defends fee rationalisation, residents plan to protest on April 9
MARGAO
Even as the Margao Municipal Council has mopped up revenue of over Rs 50 lakh in the four days of the new financial year, including a sizeable amount from trade licence fees, citizens have called for another round of protests in front of the Margao municipal building on April 9.
Citizens opposed to the fee hike have reiterated their demand for the rollback of the hike in fees and taxes on various services by the Margao Municipal Council. On the other hand, the Margao Municipal Council, led by chairperson Damu Shirodkar, has firmly ruled out any possibility of a rollback in the fee hike.
Speaking on Monday, the Margao civic chief stated that the council had generated over Rs 50 lakh in revenue during the first four days of the new financial year.
“On Monday itself, revenue generated from trade licence fees amounted to Rs 4.5 lakh. This shows that the people are willing to pay the licence fees to the municipality. There have been some queries raised by citizens, which we addressed, and they were convinced about the hike in trade licence fees,” Damu said.
He added: “We are very clear that there is no hike in any taxes. We have only rationalised the trade licence fees according to the size of the establishments.”
Asserting that there would be no rollback in the fee hike, Damu said that municipal employees had been drafted to input the increase in trade licence fees into the system over the weekend.
Citizens, however, have called for a protest in front of the municipal building on April 9, appealing to all taxpayers, irrespective of political affiliations, to join the protest against what they term the "falsehoods" of the Margao Municipal Council. They reiterated their charge that a huge amount of money is being charged to the public in the form of fees.
Savio Coutinho pointed out that while the council had proposed a modest 10-15% fee increase, the actual increases range from 66% to as much as 550%. “Citizens and taxpayers have called upon Madgavkars to join the protest in large numbers to demand the rollback of the hike and the refund of the extra amount collected by the council from April 2 to date,” he said.
