This is with reference to the news report : Govt raps Mapusa Council for failure to collect taxes (TGE, Oct 23) . Going by the track record and working of a few other municipalities in Goa, it is no surprise that Mapusa Municipal Council has also fallen in line with its failure to collect house tax arrears amounting to Rs 3.47 crore over the past 5 years from prominent residents, builders and corporations. In normal circumstances ordinary residents are served with notices and fines for defaulting to pay house taxes, and water connections are also cut off in extreme cases. Why was this not done in the case of the above mentioned persons, is what the Mapusa Municipality should tells us. In short , it all amounts to a serious dereliction of duty on the part of the Mapusa Municipal officials, for which stringent action with suspension and fines should be imposed. Efforts to recover the arrears of a whopping Rs 3.47 crore should commence immediately by the Mapusa municipality.
