BY RAJAN NARAYAN

The CCP has been looted and plundered by the former mayor Tony Rodrigues and the ruling group of councillors owing allegiance to the Taleigao MLA, Babush Monserrate.

THE SCANDAL in the performance or non performance of the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) goes far beyond diverting its daily wage workers to work at the residence of the Taleigao MLA and Education Minister, Babush Monserrate. Indeed, a close scrutiny of the audit report of the CCP, secured under the Right to Information Act by councillor Surendra Furtado, reveals that the CCP is the mother of all Satyams. K V K Raju, the promoter and chairman of Satyam, admitted to having manipulated the accounts of the multinational information technology company. He also admitted to inflating the numbers of those working for Satyam. But the sins of omission and commission of the CCP under the former mayor Tony Rodrigues, who functioned as a puppet of the Taliegao MLA Babush Monserrate, are much worse than that committed by Raju. Indeed, the audit report of the CCP is a sordid saga of incompetence, misappropriation and rampant corruption. The dishonourable mayor and the councillors have been bleeding the CCP for their own personal benefit.

HOUSE TAX

THE CCP has been extremely reluctant to collect the huge outstandings by way of house tax and other sources of revenue such as trade tax, signboard tax and rent, including lease rent, on the premises belonging to it which have been rented out or leased to private parties. The CCP has been repeatedly awarding the contract for collecting sopo, the tax levied on petty vendors, to defaulting contractors. The CCP has maintained no records of the number of employees hired on daily wages, confirming the suspicion that a significant proportion of the employees exist only on paper. The CCP has connived in the proliferation of illegal constructions. The CCP has been accused of spending Rs. 59 lakhs on the waste treatment plant set up at the (Economic Development Corporation) EDC Complex in Panaji which never functioned. The CCP spent Rs. 4.11 crores for acquiring land in Bainguinim for a garbage dump and a waste treatment plant, which it has now given up to oblige the land shark lobby.

HUGE ARREARS

ACCORDING to the audit report, the CCP has not displayed any interest leave alone enthusiasm in collecting the huge revenue arrears in the form of rent and various taxes levied by it. In the year ending 2008-2009, the total arrears on account of uncollected house tax amounted to Rs. 8.39 crore. The arrears in respect to uncollected rent from premises rented or leased out by the CCP amounted to Rs.88.81 lakh. The arrears of trade tax stood at Rs.43. 81 lakh and the arrears on signboard tax stood at Rs.42.80 lakh. The audit report points out that the revenue arrears have increased from Rs.9.25 crore as on March 31, 2008 to Rs.10.15 crore on March 31, 2009. Worse still, no effective measures have been taken by the Corporation to recover the revenue arrears which have been piling up year after year. Indeed, the audit report has expressed agitation over the fact that the collection of revenue during 2008-09 dropped to just 34% of the total receivables for the year.

It is not just house tax and rent for premises and trade tax that the CCP has been unable or rather unwilling to collect. The audit report reveals that the arrears in respect of sopo collections stood at Rs. 64.74 lakh as on March 31, 2009. When the CCP introduced house to house collection of garbage over six years ago, it had imposed a nominal fee of Rs.300 a year on households. It had also imposed nominal fees for collection of garbage from hotels and medical establishments. Subsequently, the sanitation fee for door to door collection of garbage was included in the house tax. The arrears of sanitation charges stood at Rs.40.98 lakh as on March 31, 2009. The arrears on collection on garbage from hotels, which was subcontracted, stood at Rs.7.40 lakh.

A close scrutiny of the audit report implies large scale misappropriation and corruption on the part of the CCP and its employees and, by implication, by Babush Monserrate, who has been calling the shots in the CCP. The audit report reveals that the CCP has not made any attempt to differentiate between residential structures and commercial establishments in the levy of house tax. Though the rules of the CCP themselves stipulate that the house tax should be reviewed periodically, there has been no revision of house tax in the last eight years. It is not the aam aadmi who has been persistently evading house tax. It is builders and public sector and institutional structures which are responsible for 60% of the huge arrears of house tax.

DEFAULTERS

THE biggest defaulter is a Gustavo D’Cruz Pinto, who owes the CCP Rs. 33.78 lakh. Ironically, among the other major defaulters is the Kala Academy, which owes the Corporation Rs. 26.43 lakh, and Goa Housing Board, which owes Rs.8.99 lakh. The 30 big defaulters primarily consisting of real estate companies and government organisations together owe Rs. 1.57 crore to the CCP. The biggest scam is that the CCP has deliberately and criminally evaded its responsibility for collection of arrears of house tax. When the auditors examined some of the bills sent out by the CCP, to their horror, they discovered that the bills did not mention the address of the tax payer. Which meant that there was no possibility that the bills presumably dispatched would even reach the house owner.

FIDDLING BILLS

IF the bills were not received by the tax payers, they would not have been liable for paying taxes or being penalised for delay in paying taxes. The fact that the CCP made no attempt to even ensure the correct coastal address of the tax payer would suggest that the oversight was not accidental, but deliberate. The logical conclusion would be that CCP officials were being bribed not to send the bills to the right addresses. It is inconceivable that the CCP did not even know the addresses of organisations like the Kala Academy, the Goa University and the National Institute of Oceanography.

The CCP has been equally indulgent towards the big fish who have rented premises owned by the CCP in the heart of Panaji. As against the total rent arrears of Rs.66.35 lakh as on March 31, 2008, the CCP collected only a token Rs.2.65 lakh during the year 2008-2009. Not surprisingly, as in the case of the house tax, nine parties accounted for 60% of the arrears of rent that remain uncollected. Among the biggest defaulters are Ramdas Latkar who owes the CCP Rs.11.54 lakh, Dayanand Amonkar who owes 7.98 lakh and Govind Salkar who owes Rs.8.36 lakh. The CCP did not collect any rent from the stall holders in the new municipal market from July 2003 because no MOU exists between the government of Goa, the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) and the CCP. The CCP, however, has continued to collect huge amounts towards the maintenance of the new market despite not receiving any rent for the same.

LEASE RENEWALS

BESIDES rent for the premises owned by the CCP, it has also been equally irresponsible in collecting compensation in respect of the CCP properties that had been given on long lease to private parties. The most notorious example is that of the building that houses the National theatre. The Panaji Municipal Council, which subsequently became the CCP, had entered into a lease agreement with M Rao and company for an area of 1495 sq ms for building a cinema house. The agreement had provided that the lessee would pay an annual lease rent of Rs.37,000. It is obvious that the lease system was manipulated because the agreement did not provide for any periodical increase in rent.

Though the lease expired on November 24, 2005, the Corporation did not take over the premises, which is now valued at several crores of rupees. The CCP has apparently weakened its case by continuing to accept the nominal lease rent of Rs.37,500 even after the expiry of the lease. The Goa Municipality Act provides that in respect of immovable property where the lease has already expired, the councils may renew the lease at a rate of rental which shall not be less than Rs.30 per sq metre. Consequent to the failure on the part of the CCP to either renew the lease or take back the property, it has suffered a loss of Rs.7.15 lakh, even on the nominal lease charges.

The story behind the non recovery of sanitation charges amounting to Rs.40.98 lakh for the periods 2006-07 and 2007-08 is an even bigger scam. The CCP had entered into an MOU with Sebastian Cruz for collection of waste pertaining to hotels and hospitals for the period April 2007-March 2008. Curiously, one of the conditions of the agreement was that the CCP would provide vehicles and fuel to the contractor. The sanitation fees were fixed for hotels and hospitals according to categories ranging from Rs.300 per month to Rs.2400 per month. So much so, the amount to be collected and credited to the Corporation every month after deducting the collection charge was Rs.26.67 lakh in respect of hotels and Rs.8.28 lakhs in respect of hospitals. After taking into account collection charges, the contractor was expected to pay the Corporation Rs.22.35 lakh. The actual amount paid by the contractor so far apparently is only Rs. 3.72 lakh with the balance payable being Rs.18.63 lakh. Since no bank guarantee was obtained, the CCP is unlikely to be able to collect the charges from the contractor. The records of the CCP also reveal that the contractor who was awarded the contract to collect garbage has defaulted to the extent of Rs.40.97 lakh. Though the contractor defaulted on the payment of the charges to the CCP, his contract was renewed obviously under political pressure.

SOPO SCAM

THE contract for collection of sopo is as much a scam as the contract for collection of garbage. The erstwhile Panaji Municipal Council issued tender notices for auction of sopo tax for the period February 2001 to February 2002 with a minimum bid of Rs.15 lakh. The contract was awarded to the fourth highest bidder, one Anthony Ciado. The Chief Officer allowed him a rebate because some of his vendors had shifted. But apparently Anthony Caido did not even pay the rebated amount. Despite being a defaulter, Anthony Caido was given an extension for a period of six months with an increase of 20 percent in the fees paid. The amount payable was Rs.32.32 lakh for the period February 2002 to August 2003. The contractor paid only Rs.22 lakh, which was Rs.9.60 lakh short of what he was expected to pay. The sopo contract was repeatedly awarded to Caido and his surrogates despite consistently defaulting on the payment. The total arrears as on date stands at Rs.40.83 lakh. The CCP has made no attempt to recover the same.

As in the case of the sopo and sanitation tax, there have been no proper records maintained in respect of trade tax and signboard tax either. The arrears on account of trade tax have mounted to Rs.37 lakh and that on signboard tax to Rs.53 lakh. The real losses are much higher because the Corporation has failed to revise the trade tax which remains at the level which was fixed over a decade ago. The audit report comments that the CCP has not drawn up any strategy to recover the huge arrears of trade tax and signboard tax. The CCP does not even have a recovery officer to collect the arrears on trade tax and signboard tax.

Illegal constructions are not confined to the rural areas. Indeed, Panaji has a record of as many as 522 cases of illegal construction. The number of complaints of illegal construction as on April 2004 was 522. The number of cases detected in 2004-05 was an additional 24. Incredibly, the number of demolitions carried out was just one. So much so, as on date, the number of illegal constructions continue to be 545. The CCP’s dubious excuse for not acting on complaints of illegal construction is that despite repeated notices, the guilty parties did not respond. Surely there was nothing to prevent the CCP from conducting an enquiry on the complaints and taking appropriate action such as demolition of the illegal structures. But what does the CCP do when among the people against whom there are complaints of encroachment or illegal construction is the Minister for Education and Taleigao MLA Babush Monserrate. We are inclined to believe that no action has been taken against illegal constructions because of kickbacks to corporators and civic officers.

GHOST WORKERS

A great deal has already been written about ghost workers in the Corporation of the City of Panaji. The audit report confirms that an unauthorised expenditure of Rs.5.32 crore was incurred on engaging daily wages staff in clear violation of government norms on recruitment between 2005-06 and 2007-08. The CCP was apparently authorised to engage 125 daily wage labourers for cleanliness work in view of IFFI 2006. However, the CCP extended the services of these workers long after IFFI was over. The services of the workers were extended periodically without the permission of the Directorate of Municipal Administration. Though the shortfall of workers was only 90, apparently 140 workers were employed and ten of them were placed at the disposal of the Education Minister. Presumably the other excess workers were used by the other corporators and officials of the CCP. Apparently the auditors found that the CCP had not maintained any proper records of the number of employees hired on daily wages. There were neither signatures nor thumb prints in the muster rolls in respect of several of the daily wage workers who were receiving regular salaries from the CCP.

We believe that the CCP is far worse than Satyam. While the promoter of Satyam manipulated records, the CCP just does not maintain any records. As pointed out, the CCP sent out bills for collection of house tax without even the address of the party liable to pay the house tax. The CCP failed to take action against the sanitation and sopo contractors even though they did not live up to their commitments. Even worse, fresh contracts were awarded to defaulters. The CCP awarded a contract to a private party to build a waste treatment plant in Patto which never functioned. The CCP has abandoned the proposal to set up a waste treatment plant at Bainguinim despite having paid over Rs.4 crore for acquiring the land.

The audit report even cites cases of officials of the CCP not accounting for the advances they had taken and keeping the advance amount for their personal use, against the rules. It is clear that the CCP, which is controlled by Taleigao MLA Babush Monserrate, has been taking residents of the capital city for a ride. The only solution is to dissolve the CCP and appoint an administrator. Indeed the only time the CCP functioned efficiently since it was formed was when it was under an administrator. So rampant has been the corruption and misappropriation and abuse and misuse of power by the mayor and corporators that no commissioner has survived for more than six months and no one is willing to take up the job of commissioner of the CCP.