Chief Officers since 2017
Deepali Naik
Agnelo Fernandes
Gaurish Shankwalkar
Arvind Bugde
Santosh Kundaikar
Agnelo Fernandes (addl charge)
Sandhya Kamat
VASCO
From garbage to recoveries of arrears, the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) has been plagued by quite a few problems, but ensuring a stable chief officer for the council is also one of them.
Sandhya Kamat took charge as the new chief officer of the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC), becoming the seventh chief officer of MMC since 2017 after Deepali Naik, Agnelo Fernandes, Gaurish Shankwalkar, Arvind Bugde, Santosh Kundaikar and Agnelo Fernandes (additional charge).
Speaking to reporters a day after taking charge, Kamat admitted that the road ahead was challenging, but said necessary steps would be taken to resolve the issues and initiate recoveries of arrears for the MMC .
“The road ahead is very challenging and there are many issues, prime among them is that MMC does not have much income and the recovery is very, very less.”
“I was checking details of major outstanding dues and establishments operating without trade licenses. I was also looking into files of illegal constructions and try and see if we can get them under house tax.:”
“There are several government offices with outstanding rent which needs to be recovered. The big question is whether the MMC will sustain even after these recoveries because MMC now does not get octroi.”
“Octroi was one of the major income contributors of the MMC and we have to see other avenues to generate income,” said Kamat.
The chief officer said she had taken note of garbage from hotels and other panchayats.
“When I visited the outskirts of MMC’s jurisdiction, I realised that adjoining panchayats were also dumping garbage in our jurisdiction and the big question is how to manage the garbage dumped by panchayats.”
“I also have plans that housing and commercial societies can compost their wet waste so as to reduce the burden on MMC.”
Kamat also appealed to people to pay their taxes to the municipal council.
“We may have to take some strict steps for recovery if people don’t cooperate and while we don’t want to trouble the people, it may be the need of the hour for the MMC. I also will try and see how best we can use CSR funds of many institutions and corporates in the municipality,” said Kamat.
