Debate rages over issuing authority
the goan I network
MARGAO
While the work of issuing trade licenses by the Margao civic body had all along been the domain of the municipal inspectors, a proposal to allot the job to the municipal sanitary inspectors has stirred a hornet’s nest in the corridors of the Margao Municipal Council as to who should execute the job of issuing trade licenses “ the municipal inspectors or the sanitary inspectors.
The controversy not only threatens to divide the municipal administration into two groups, but may cast a shadow on whether the civic body will be able to execute the job of bringing the unlicensed establishments under the tax net.
For, the municipal workers union under the banner of Goa Municipal Employees Association has firmly opposed any move to allot the work of issuing trade licenses to the sanitary inspectors. In fact, the union went on to remind the municipal chairperson and the chief officer that the sanitary inspectors are cast with duties and responsibilities commensurate with their primary duties of sanitation.
Firing a salvo at the proposed move to hand over the task of issuing trade licenses to the sanitary inspectors, Association general secretary Anil Shirodkar made it clear that the sanitary inspectors are cast with the duties relating to sanitary, garbage and waste management. He, however, said a round of the city would only reveal heaps of garbage at various points and location raising sanitation problems.
In fact, the Association has demanded that the council first insist on and demand that the sanitary inspectors fulfill their primary duties of garbage management. “We demand that the council should demand that the sanitary inspectors make Margao garbage free to meet the goal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Let sanitary inspectors make a daily round of the city to ensure that Margao is garbage free,” he said.
While lodging the Association’s strong objection to the proposed move, Shirodkar said the chairperson and the chief officer should take a round of the city to get first hand information on the sanitation problems.
Thousands of business establishments are operating in the commercial capital sans the mandatory trade license from the civic body. As was highlighted by The Goan in the past, most of the commercial hubs in the city hardly pay the trade license fee to the civic body to conduct business activities.
