Of the 20 Mormugao Municipal Council retired staff, 12 have been paid partially, others are yet to receive their full PF
PF amount is being loaned to small businessmen and others at a higher interest rate
ELVINO ARAUJO
VASCO: A Provident Fund (PF) is a financial package to assist an employee on retirement, but this fund has taken on an unusual meaning at the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC), with the money not deposited into employees’ accounts but instead used to pay staff salaries and at its worst, even given as loan to businessmen at high interest rates.
Believe it or not, sources have told Herald that the PF amount of its employees has been secured with the municipal council and is, allegedly being used to pay off staff salaries and for other municipal expenses.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a retired staff employee of MMC disclosed that the MMC has to pay the PF amount to about 20 retired staff, which has been pending since the last two years.
“Of the 20 retired staff, 12 have been paid partially, while eight others are yet to receive their full PF. Of these eight retired employees, two have already died,” said a retired staff employee.
“The PF amount is being loaned to small businessmen and others who are in need of money at a higher interest rate,” alleged the retired staff employee.
When the matter was brought to the notice of newly elected MMC Chairperson Bhavan Bhosle, she feigned ignorance on the issue and instead summoned an administrative staff official to explain.
“As per procedures, the PF amount is normally deducted from the employee’s salary and it should be deposited into the employee’s PF account with the PF Department,” said the official.
“The MMC has been deducting the PF amount from the employee’s salary, but instead
of depositing the money into the PF account, the council has maintained a separate account where the amount is deposited. This amount is then used as and when required to pay the staff salaries and for other MMC expenses,” admitted the official.
“This practice has been going on since the past 35 years and none of the earlier chairpersons or chief officers tried to streamline the issue. It is difficult to streamline the PF accounts, as it runs into crores of rupees which have been pending for the last 35 years.”
“The council cannot clear the amount, as there is no money in its account and PF amount has been used to pay staff salaries and to defray other municipal bills,” informed the MMC administrative official.
“Unless and until MMC recovers the outstanding dues from its tenants, which runs into crores of rupees and other pending dues of about Rs 3 crore from the oil companies, it will be very difficult for the MMC to clear PF amount of all retired employees and to pay its staff employees their salaries,” the administrative official added.
Efforts to contact newly appointed MMC Chief Officer Y A Masurkar turned futile as he had not yet taken charge of the MMC on Wednesday morning.
When the MMC staff Union President Vasudev Dhawade was contacted for comments on the issue, Dhawade’s reply was surprising since the PF issue pertained to the welfare of employees.
“I have been working since the last 28 years and this practice (of delayed PF) is being followed even before me,” admitted Dhawade.
When asked what efforts he had made to direct the MMC chief officer to open individual PF accounts with the PF department, Dhawade failed to give any satisfactory reply.
What was also surprising was that Dhawade said he would take up the issue with the All Goa Municipal Labourers Union, instead of resolving the matter directly with the MMC chief officer.
