VASCO
When repeated attempts to get business establishments in the port town to clear their pending taxes failed, the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) chairperson hit upon a novel and ingenious approach: strike where and when it hurts most.
The MMC sealed prominent business establishments of many defaulters in a 20-day drive before and after Diwali, fully aware that this action would disrupt huge festive sales.
And MMC’s action was met with swift reaction, as all defaulters rushed to clear their dues and get the MMC to un-seal their shops.
This shrewd move earned the MMC a whopping Rs 84.64 lakh within 20 days.
When contacted, MMC Chairperson Girish Borker said it was only when shops were being sealed that the defaulters were quick to clear all outstanding dues.
"The huge business establishments were not paying their dues, despite knowing the fact that the MMC is struggling financially. These showrooms were operating and doing brisk business and this is unacceptable.”
Borker said the MMC had sent around 200 notices to many establishments but no one to respond the council.
“Finally, we decided to begin our sealing drive. We sealed around 20-25 prominent establishments and showrooms. This caused panic among other establishments as well and they began making their payments. In fact, one showroom immediately cleared a payment of Rs 10 lakh,” said Borker.
“This drive also sent out a strong message to other outlets and they began responding to our letters and assuring to clear their balance payments. My question is why should these huge showrooms wait for us to take such drastic steps if they can afford to make us the payments," remarked Borker.
Within 20 days, the MMC recovered a whopping Rs 84,64,662 in dues, consisting of House Tax (Rs 27,08,853), Signboard fees (Rs 2,35,065), Trade License fees (Rs 8,72,291), Rent (Rs 23,45,276) and House tax fines (Rs 23,03,177).
Borker expressed gratitude to his entire team comprising the chief officer, municipal inspectors, accounts and taxation section besides the council who supported his plan.
“We have our workers who do everything for the people and even clean the city and collect garbage and we need to pay them their salaries which is not possible if we don't collect outstanding dues. We don't want to harass businessmen or seal shops but in case these people are operating and not paying us dues for over ten-odd years, this is the only resort for us," said Borker
Borker said he had used a similar tactic and had managed to generate record revenue of Rs 98.50 lakh in the seven-day Saptah Festival.
"I want to clarify that we are not against any business but our request to them is to pay their taxes on time. We are now planning to categorise our outstanding dues in ward-wise format and move around in other places like Mangor, Sada, Baina, etc. to recover our dues.”
“I appeal to people to come forward before we take decisive action. We have to realise that the recovery of dues is the most important aspect in the functioning of a municipal council, which is a self-governed body. I will go all out to generate revenue and collect outstanding dues," said Borker.
