Margao: The All Goa FMCG & Telecom Distributors Association has thrown its weight behind Margao traders demanding abolition of “sopo” (occupation fee) collections from goods transport vehicles by the Margao Municipal Council (MMC).Traders have been complaining that individuals claiming to be authorised “sopo collectors” levy charges from goods transport vehicles entering market to unload goods.In a representation to the South Goa district collector on April 20, businessman Prabhav Naik said that no explicit statutory provision, rule, notification or by-law empowers any authority to collect such fees. He contended that traders already paying trade licence fees and municipal taxes, and transporters already subject to road tax under the motor vehicles framework, are being subjected to an unlawful additional exaction. Naik’s representation has been marked to the chief minister, urban development minister, PWD minister, MLAs of Fatorda and Curtorim, and the MMC chief fficer.Several traders and businessmen, as also office-bearers of the FMCG association, have described instances of alleged harassment and questioned MMC’s legal authority to impose sopo. The association pointed out that no comparable mechanism exists in any other municipalities calling the system “unjust,”Businessman Chirag Naik, who said he has been raising the issue with civic authorities for two years without result, struck a defiant note. “Sopo collection is bullying, and the only way to counter it is to stand up to it collectively,” he said. “Writing letters to civic authorities has yielded nothing. Enough of complaints, what we need now is a public movement. I appeal to all Madgaonkars to stop paying sopo — we will bear the consequences.”
