Margao Municipality has not renewed lease of over 500 shops for 30 years

MARGAO, Goa: Margao Municipality is losing a significant amount of revenue as the local body has failed to renew the lease of more than 500 of its shops which expired over 30 years ago.

Due to this, shopkeepers and traders in the area of the urban local body (ULB) are getting away with paying meagre amounts ranging between ₹100 and ₹350 as monthly rent. Some of the traders have gone a step ahead and leased the property to second and third parties and the ULB still hasn’t taken any action against them.

As per the reports of O Heraldo, 95 per cent of the properties, out of 561 premises leased out by the ULB, are occupied on expired leases as no one has bothered to check the lease agreement. Out of these rented shops, 286 are in the New Market area, and 251 are in the Gandhi market.

Rajendra Azgaonkar, President of the Gandhi Market Traders Association, said that they are ready to work with the civic body to resolve the issue. He said, “The traders will be unable to pay arrears of previous years if demanded by the Municipality. This mess is the result of the civic body not being serious in following up on lease renewals. The traders are not to be blamed for this mess.”

Manuel Barretto, Chief Officer of the MMC, said, “To my knowledge, the last lease renewal of the shops was done in 1972, wherein there are also records of the years 1983 and 1985. Post that, no procedure seems to have been followed pertaining to the renewal of the lease agreements.”