OLD GOA
With hundreds of stalls operating at the 45-day fair during the ongoing Exposition in Old Goa, one would have imagined the Old Goa panchayat raking in a huge revenue from stall fees.
But believe it or not, the Se Old Goa panchayat will earn a paltry revenue of just over Rs 39 lakh as fees for 642 stalls.
Information available with The Goan revealed that 632 stalls have been permitted by the panchayat on government property, for which it has received Rs 37,32,000. For these stalls on government property, a one-time fee of Rs 6,000 has been charged for stalls admeasuring 2 sq mts, while for a stall admeasuring 4 sq metres, Rs 12,000 has been charged.
In other words, a vendor has been paying only Rs 133 a day for a small stall and Rs 266 for a large stall for the entire duration of the 45 days.
Besides, the panchayat has also given permission for the installation of 10 stalls in private properties, for which it has received a fee of Rs 1,78,000. In the private properties, the fee ranges between Rs 3,000 and Rs 50,000, depending on the size.
The total amount received from the 642 stalls comes to Rs 39.1 lakh.
When The Goan questioned Old Goa Sarpanch Medha Parvatkar about the paltry fee being collected from the stalls when the event is spread over 45 days, she replied that it was the panchayat’s decision.
However, a reliable source informed that a majority of the stalls have been sub-let and huge sums have been charged by the original owners as rent for the 45-day period.
“Most of the stalls have been sub-let and given on rent,” disclosed a source.
The source further informed that for a 2 sq mtr stall, the rent for the sub-let stall ranges anywhere between Rs 40,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh.
“The rent amount depends on the location of the stalls. Stalls located in and around the Gandhi Circle are charged higher than those located further away and elsewhere,” the source further informed.
Incidentally, the meagre amount collected by the panchayat from 632 stalls is nowhere near the revenue collected by the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) for the Asthami Fair and the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) for the seven-day Saptah Fair.
While the CCP had earned a staggering revenue of Rs 1.04 crore from 400-odd stalls during the 14-day Asthami Fair, the MMC had earned an equally impressive Rs 1.03 crore from about 1,000 stalls during only seven days of the Saptah fair.
