MARGAO
With just a month and half to go for curtains to come down on the current financial year, Margao Municipal Council’s outstanding revenue arrears have touched an all time high of close to Rs 30 crore, around Rs 29.45 crore to be precise.
The figures dished out by the Civic body, officials concede, is just a tip of the iceberg as hundreds, if not thousands of commercial establishments are operating in the commercial capital sans the mandatory trade license.
Blame it on the lip service played by the powers that be or simply lethargy by the Municipal Babus in effecting the revenue recoveries, this is perhaps the first time in recent times that that the outstanding revenue arrears of the Civic body has almost touched a staggering Rs 30 crore.
Take note, the MMC’s total arrears were hovering around 24.47 crore at the beginning of the 2023-24 financial year. The arrears have now jumped to Rs 29.45 crore as on January 19, 2024 as per the reply submitted by the Margao Municipal Council to a Legislative Assembly question raised by Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai.
A glance at the statistics compiled by the Civic body that around Rs 20-odd crores pertaining to the heads House tax and Sanitary, with House tax topping the list with Rs 12.25 crore, followed by sanitation tax Rs 10.99 crore. The huge outstanding arrears on the heads house tax and sanitation indicates that houses and establishments in the commercial capital have not been paying the mandatory house tax and the sanitation tax. Official seek to dispute the figure on the house tax and sanitation saying there are many houses which have been found closed in the city, with the owners shifting their place of residence elsewhere or abroad.
The figures in respect of other heads such as trade tax, trade sanitation, rent, signboards, besides hawkers do not inspire much confidence either. For, the tax arrears on each of these heads have gone up in the last 10 months, indicating that the tax recovery has been far from satisfactory.
Take the case of trade tax and trade sanitation. The trade tax was pegged at Rs 2.83 core at the opening balance before the figure jumped to a whopping Rs 3.18 crore as on January 19, 2024. Similarly, the trade sanitation arrears went up to Rs 1.35 crore from Rs 1.18 crore at the beginning of the financial year.
The Margao Municipal Council has been found wanting in recovering rent from the Municipal properties. If the arrears on rent were pegged at Rs 82 lakh as on April 1, 2023, the figures have now gone up to Rs 94.84 lakh as on January 19, 2024.
The issue of the mounting outstanding arrears had figured at the Special meeting of the Council held on Monday when City Fathers demanding explanation over the rising tax arrears and the failure of the Civic body to tap the revenue. In fact, Councilors had asserted that funds are not available for the development of the city with the Finance Commission grants utilized for garbage and waste transportation and the Municipal revenue spent to foot the huge salary and wage bill totaling over Rs two crore.
That Margao Municipal Chairperson Damu Shirodkar admitted that nearly 40-50 per cent of the commercial establishments in his Aquem ward are operating sans the mandatory trade license shows the extent of the revenue issue plaguing the Margao Civic body.
