MARGAO
The Margao Municipal Council is richer by around Rs 26 lakh by way of allotment of stalls for the Old Market feast fair.
And, if Margao Municipal Chief Officer Gaurish Sankhwalkar is to be believed, the total revenue accruing from the feast fair will cross the Rs 30 lakh figure in the next two days.
The Chief Officer pointed out that the SGPDA is yet to pay Rs 3.5 lakh to the MMC, adding that the revenue from the fair will easily cross the Rs 30 lakh.
“As of today, the total revenue that has come in the MMC coffers from the Old Market feast fair is around Rs 26 lakh. The process of allotment of stalls is underway. We expected the revenue to go up in the next two days on the allotment of stalls,” he said.
He added: “And, if we add the revenue amounting to Rs 3.5 lakh expected from the PDA, the total revenue will cross the Rs 30 lakh figure.”
The MMC Chief Officer adopted a system followed at the Vasco Saptah wherein the vendors and hawkers are allotted the feast stalls after obtaining the identity of the vendors and after accepting the payments in the civic body.
Sankhwalkar said this system was adopted by the MMC in order to rule out sub-letting of the stalls at a premium to hawkers hailing from outside the State. The MMC had fixed Rs 7,850 as the rate for a stall, inclusive of the sopo charges. “We had included the sopo charges in the rates, again to rule out overcharging of sopo at the fair,” he added.
