VASCO: Even as the cash-strapped Mormugao Municipal Council has managed to disburse the salary for April to the municipal workers and staff, the civic body is not sure whether it will be able to pay the salaries in the future, especially during the monsoon months.
The MMC has been facing an acute financial crisis due to the Goa government’s failure to release salary grants of Rs 5.69 crore, which is pending for the last two years, besides the octroi grant for 2015-16. This is likely to affect 300-odd municipal workers at various grades, and the MMC will be left with no funds in the days to come if the grants are not released by the government on time.
According to information, MMC Chairperson Deepak Naik held an emergency meeting with the accounts department officials in his chamber on Monday to discuss the salary issue, including whether the MMC could manage to pay salaries in the future if there was further delay in releasing grants to the MMC.
“We have decided to use municipal treasury funds to disburse the April salary to 300-odd municipal workers,” said an accounts officer.
Due to the shortage of funds, disbursement of pension and honorarium to councillors will be delayed. However, the MMC’s major worry will be on how to release the salaries for workers and staff members in the next few months, given that the government has been delaying the release of grants to the Council, which is backed by the same party.
“I don’t understand how the govt wants us to run the municipality without funds,” he said.
Today we were calculating the balance in the treasury, and in the future the situation will be worse. I have personally requested the Chief Minister and Urban Development Minister, in the presence of the Defence Minister, to look into the matter. I am hopeful that something will happen in the days to come,” said Naik.
Interestingly, the MMC had recently passed a resolution to collect octroi on its own from oil companies. The civic body had anticipated that the government would release at least Rs 10 crore as octroi grants this year, and thus, in the recently passed budget, the MMC had mentioned the same amount as expected revenue receipt. However, Naik now feels that his calculations went wrong.
“The way we are being treated, I feel that even the pending octroi will be delayed by the government, and giving Rs 10 crore as octroi is not even imaginable for us at the moment. We did manage to recover arrears and we will continue the same, but we are still dependent on the government. Such financial issues need to be addressed immediately,” said Naik.
