GUWAHATI, Sept 24 - At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on the street vendors of the city, the lessee under Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has been allegedly collecting high amounts of money as tax from the vendors at the daily market under the Sixmile overbridge.
�The street vendors of the city have been the worst affected during the pandemic. A group of people, acting as lessees under GMC, have been collecting tax from the vendors at the daily market under the Sixmile overbridge, which is very high and illegal in nature. The group has collected Rs 150 to Rs 200 daily as tax from each vendor of the daily market, which should be around Rs 30-40,� said Rajiv Deka, secretary of the daily market committee.
�The group does not even provide any receipt against the payment while collecting the tax,� he added.
The vendors, in protest against such activities, kept their shops closed on Monday and Tuesday.
The market committee, affiliated to the Street Vendors Association of Assam, yesterday sent letters to the Commissioner of Guwahati Municipal Corporation Ghanshyam Dass, Kamrup Metro DC Biswajit Pegu and Guwahati Police Commissioner Munna Prasad Gupta, urging them to take immediate action in this regard.
The GMC had last year brought four markets under its purview in a bid to enhance its revenue. The markets are Beltola daily market, the daily market under the Sixmile overbridge and the sugarcane markets at Machkhowa and Shantipur.
The tax is being collected through lessees appointed through a tendering process.
There are 26 markets under the GMC, including seven private markets. The Corporation collects an annual revenue of around Rs 3 crore from them.
GMC collector Nabadip Sangmai told The Assam Tribune that an inquiry has been initiated following direction from the GMC Commissioner on the basis of the letter sent by the market committee.
�If such activities have indeed been going on, then the Corporation will discontinue the contract with the lessee,� he added.
