Team Herald
VASCO: Around 300 workers of the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) may have to go without their salary for April as the cash-strapped MMC is yet to receive grants from the Urban Development Ministry. This is the second time in the last six months that the MMC has faced such a situation, and the officials fear that they might not be in a position to disburse the workers’ salaries if the grants are not released on time.
“It is true that we have been facing a severe financial crisis, due to which we might not even be in a position to pay the April salaries to the workers. Although we have aggressively started a drive to recover our dues, our receipts are less than the expenditure. From whatever dues we had recovered, we managed to pay the salaries to the workers. But this time, the situation is doubtful. This is happening because we are not getting enough support from the Urban Development ministry as our rightful grants are yet to be released to us,” said MMC chairperson Deepak Naik.
The financial crisis being faced by the MMC can be gauged with the fact that, this year, the MMC has decided to reduce the labor force for pre-monsoon works; instead of 40 labourers, it will take only 20 labors, and that too for only 15 days to complete pending pre-monsoon works.
“Forget about grants, even the DMA approval for pre-monsoon works was received late. If we had waited for approval, then to complete the pre-monsoon works this year would be nothing less than a miracle. We had decided to use our own workers, and today we managed to complete 50 percent of the works without spending anything. We have also decided to cut down on the labour force for the pre-monsoon works and only major works will be given on contract,” said Naik.
In another decision aimed at saving money, the MMC will abolish the system of giving contracts for cleaning wells.
“Usually, well-cleaning works can be done if we have proper equipment. Therefore, to save money, we have decided to go for a one-time investment by purchasing two motors, and we will deploy our own workers to clean the wells. All such measures have been adopted to save money. However, our requirements are still huge, and thus, the administration should take cognizance of our plight and release our grants soon,” said Naik.
