Team Goemkarponn
MORMUGAO: The Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) has taken a significant step towards resolving its long-standing financial crisis by discussing a one-time settlement (OTS) for unpaid lease rent of municipal properties. Vasco MLA Krishna Daji Salkar, MMC Chairperson Girish Borker, and tenants convened to address issues stemming from overdue payments caused by objections to hiked rents and accumulated interest. The proposal aims to set fair rates and resolve disputes amicably. Prolonged non-payment had left the council struggling financially, hindering the maintenance of municipal premises. The OTS scheme is seen as a ray of hope for financial stability and better upkeep of assets.
Sources in the MMC said that the MMC was earlier applying the Government rate of Rs 12 per square meters for shops and offices occupied by lesseees of the MMC buildings
” However , in between the MMC took a resolution to escalate the rates to 25 Rs and apply it to all teb shops . However the lessees did not agree to the proposed rates and refused to pay the rents at the increased rates. The issue escalated so much that both the lessees and MMC went on loggerheads with each other and matters reached the Courts where the leases won the case . After the case , the lessee started to pay the rent at old rates but the MMC refused to accept the rent at old rates and the rents remained pending. To make matters worse, the pending rents began incurring interest amount, which the lessees refused to pay since the MMC had not been accepting the rent money, that the lessees were willing to pay and blamed the MMC for not accepting their rent and demanded that the interest amount be waived off since it was not the mistake of the lesseees ” said the source
Speaking to media later Vasco MLA Krishna Salkar said that the deadlock between the MMC and the tenants had lasted for over 27 years
” I have been a councillor for 15 years before I went to become the MLA and I am very well aware of this issue which has been pending for the last 27 years. Despite several efforts , this issue could not be resolved but after i became the MLA , i raised the issue in the assembly on two occasion and finally the Urban Development Minister gave me an assurance to find a solution to this long pending issue and he asked us to submit a proposal which would be accepted by the Government. We then decided to call a joint meeting of all the lessee at Ravindra Bhavan Baina to decide on the proposal where in the issue can be resolved amicably in the legal ambit .We had a long and detailed discussion with all the stakeholders and we will come up with an amicable solution and suggest an One Time Settlement Scheme to resolve the dispute. ” Said Salkar
” The dispute have been going for long and matters reached the court and the lessees won the case but the issue was never resolved. We will now come out with a positive solution and place before the MMC and MMC will subsequently put this proposal with the Government. Once the Government accepts our proposal, the 27 years long pending issue will be resolved and MMC will get the long pending dues from the pending rent of these lesseees . ” Said Salkar
” The bottleneck of the issue was that MMC was not ready to admit their mistakes while the lessee blamed the MMC. There were court cases which went against the MMC for different reasons , including we not reaching in time and not willing to appeal against the verdict. While we cannot blame the MMC , the issue are being resolved amicably and today the MMC has agreed that they faulted at taking approvals before implementing the rates . It was a case of misunderstanding and today the lesses have agreed to implement the rates and offer their dues to the MMC. No problem should last so long and it should have been resolved earlier..we earlier had a similar issue with HPCL but we got their settlement done and the long pending issue was resolved resulting in MMC getting huge chunk of revenue that helped them clear the dues of retired staff and pensioners . ” Said Salkar
