MMC cracks whip against absenteeism, holds back salary

MARGAO, JUNE 30
The Margao Municipal Council has cracked a whip against absenteeism by holding back the salaries of as many as six Civic employees, including two UDCs and four workers.
Civic officials said the two UDCs have been told to submit a medical certificate from the Goa Medical College and hospital before their salaries are released by the Municipality.
When contacted, MMC Chairperson Savio Coutinho said the two UDCs had failed to report on duty for some days without applying for leave. He said the two employees later submitted a medical certificate which was not acceptable by the Civic body.
As far as the four workers are concerned, the Chairperson said they were drafted for election work in the District Collectorate, but did not report for duty in the Municipality after the work.
“As such, the Municipality has held back payment of the salaries of these six employees pending their explanations and submission of medical certificates”, Coutinho said.
Of the two UDCs, one is attached to the Accounts section, while the other is working in the Taxation section.
The action, perhaps, the first time in recent times, is reported to have not gone down well with a section of workers, who has sought to know how the Municipality can withheld the entire month’s salary when they were absence for some days.
The Margao Civic body had been trying to set up a mechanism to ensure that employees report for work and leave the office on time. The bio-metric finger scan reader was one such instance, which was abandoned by the Civic body within days of its implementation following protests and objections from the employees.
Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat had recently mooted installation of surveillance cameras in the Civic body to track the movement of the employees, even though Kamat appears to be not in favour of the bio-metric finger scan reader to record the attendance of the Civic staff.