MARGAO
Margao Municipal Council’s “weekend tax recovery drive” saw staff and workers moving door-to-door, visiting households as well as business establishments to recover revenue or to serve recovery notices.
Expressing satisfaction over the drive, Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes said the drive will help the civic body recover revenue to the tune of Rs 3,31,200 on the special weekend second Saturday initiative.
He said the drive also sent a loud and clear message to tax defaulters within Margao that the Council means business when it comes to outstanding tax recovery.
“If one goes by the figures collected so far, the ‘weekend drive’ was a huge success with long queues seen at the MMC with people coming forward to pay,” he said.
The Chief Officer said he managed to rope in united support from all sections of his staff, including Lyndon Pereira, Chairperson, and councillors who kept aside political affiliations to ensure the A-Class Council retrieved a major chunk of the large amount of outstanding taxes.
“Many citizens and businessmen after repaying their outstanding taxes called me up personally, thanking me for the reminder and initiative, and making it easy to repay, especially through the online option,” informed a beaming Fernandes.
He said the drive continues with online repayment options especially for house tax provided by the Council on https://goaulbservice.gov.in/Margao.aspx,https://goaulbservice.gov.in/PayHouseTax.aspx.
About 100 staff of MMC participated in the drive and around 40 marched into the main market to ensure the Council governance was on foot to recover the dues.
While speaking on the special drive, CO Fernandes said that the goodwill between the MMC and Margao citizenry and the business community must always prevail.
“We ensure that our council jurisdiction is the most comprehensive place to reside and do business, and MMC is always prompt in its garbage clearance and sanitary works,” said Fernandes.
The CO also sounded a zero-tolerance policy towards those doing business within the municipal limits without trade licenses and permissions.
He said he and his staff
will not tolerate any such activities and will come down heavily in yet another drive soon to tackle the menace of illegal businesses which deprives the municipality of the much-needed taxes.
