MARGAO: The wait for salaries of the South Goa Comunidades staff has become unending. The staff met the collector over the non-payment of salaries for over one and a half year. They have been unpaid since September 2016. The collector is hopeful on release of salaries by end of January. However, what lies ahead from here for the Comunidade staff is more worrying as the letter of Government communicating their withdrawal from payments to Comunidades is the major concern now.
The 27 staff members of various comunidades from South Goa on Thursday met the collector over the unacceptable delay in disbursement of their salaries for last 16 months. Be it Chavath, Christmas or New Year, these workers got not a penny for the work they do at the comunidade office. A story of the staff also has it that the money they took from lenders to survive has reached over Rs 2 lakh.
The Revenue Minister in April 2017 had said that the government would process their request soon and release funds for the salaries. However, the assurance would soon complete a full one year without any relief to the staff. According to the staff the comunidades have no money to pay their salaries.
Collector Anjali Sehrawat said, “The budget head from where the money needs to be paid has not been fed with money, presently. This is very technical and we have reported the matter to the department of Revenue only to correct this discrepancy.”
“We tried our best to release the money of the comunidade staff before Christmas or New Year but it did not happen. However, the department of finance as well as revenue will settle this issue at their ends. The approval has come in and the money is there, but it is not available in the right budget head,” the Collector said.
When enquired whether the government would continue paying the salaries of the comunidade staff after clearing the salaries of the past 16 months, the collector said it depends on the policy of the government.
