MAPUSA
Finding a Sopo tax contractor for its municipal market appears to have become a major headache for the Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC) as it has floated a tender for the 6th time, after the previous five tenders did not find any takers.
Last year, the MMC had awarded the tender to a Sopo tax contractor for Rs 1.43 crore, but due to differences with the council, the contractor terminated his service midway.
The MMC then floated a tender for a Sopo tax contract for the financial year 2023-24 in April 2023 by nearly doubling the amount but no one responded to the bid of Rs 2.42 crore.
The council then decided to lower the bid and in June 2023, floated a tender for a reduced amount of Rs 1.86 crore. This lower amount too did not find any takers.
Then in September 2023, the MMC floated a new tender for Rs 1.67 crore and later floated tenders for the same amount in November 2023 and February this year. No one responded to these tenders.
The MMC has now made a sixth attempt by floating a Sopo tax contract tender and it is left to be seen if anyone shows interest in taking up the contract.
In the absence of a Sopo contractor, the MMC has been forced to depute its own staff to collect the Sopo tax from the market, but this has left the council with huge losses in the Sopo tax collection.
