MARGAO
Former SGPDA wholesale fish market sopo contractor Milagres Fernandes on Friday pooh poohed the claim on the floor of the Assembly that the SGPDA is now collecting Rs 15 lakh sopo fees departmentally when the contractor in the past was only paying Rs 9.5 lakh.
Addressing the media, Milagres pointed out that he was paying Rs 9.5 lakh sopo fees to the SGPDA every month without fail after deducing the wages of the employees drafted for the sopo collection work besides upkeep and maintenance of the market.
“The statement made on the floor of the House gives an impression that the SGPDA’s revenue from sopo collection has now gone up to Rs 15 lakh a month as against Rs 9.5 lakh paid by the contractor. This is totally false and misleading. I have found out from the SGPDA that though the PDA is collecting Rs 15 lakh revenue on sopo collection, the PDA is incurring expenditure on the wages and salaries of the 12 staffers employed for the work,” he said.
He added: “If the SGPDA is now enjoying enhanced revenue on sopo collection fees, it is due to the initiative of former chairman, Wilfred D’Sa. He had taken the initiative to effect a hike in the sopo rates, thus increasing the overall revenue of the PDA.”
Milagres claimed that he was the only sopo contractor who had even paid the electricity bills during the period of his contract. He said those attempting to tarnish his image should explain how much revenue was earned by the PDA for over 17 years before he took over the wholesale fish sopo collection contract. “The figures speak for itself. Anyone can file an RTI and find out the revenue earned by the PDA during my stint as contractor and compare the same to the revenue earned by the PDA for the last 17 years,” he asserted.
