Team Herald
Margao: An imperceptible difference in the revenue and expenditure columns of the Margao Municipality has the newly-elected Chairperson worried. The municipality spends almost Rs 2.5 crore every month on workers’ salaries, garbage collection, daily wages and other expenditures. However, the revenue deposited in the municipality’s vault is much less than its total expenditure. Chairperson Damodar Shirodkar, who took on the role last week, has decided to prioritise reducing the MMC’s expenses and increasing its revenue.
After taking charge, Shirodkar has taken several meetings with various departments of the municipality. Meetings with revenue, accounts and tax departments has revealed the uncontrolled expenditure on miscellaneous things, termed vaguely as ‘other expenses’. Out of the Rs 2.5 crore, about Rs 1.5 crore is spent on salaries to staff, pension funds and remuneration to councillors. Approximately Rs 38 lakh is distributed as wages to daily wage labourers. Another Rs 30 lakh is spent on door-to-door garbage collection, and surprisingly, a whopping Rs 30 lakh is disbursed as other expenses.
The exact nature of ‘other expenses’ is yet to be ascertained, and the Chairperson is intently investigating this issue. He is also expected to go into detailed verification of the daily wages paid to the labourers. The Chairperson is contemplating increasing the revenue of the municipality of South Goa’s business capital, by various means. Recovering arrears is also on the priority list, say sources.
This analysis of the MMC’s accounts comes in the wake of the Municipality expressing its lack of funds to complete various tasks, including the establishment of a kabrastan and installation of CCTV cameras, among others.
