VASCO: The disbursement of salaries to the employees of Mormugao municipality may be delayed as the municipality is facing an acute shortage of funds. The delay will come as bad news for those who celebrate Diwali, which is barely two weeks away.
“It is a fact that the financial condition of the Mormugao municipal Council (MMC) is shaky as the recovery of dues from defaulters was stopped due to the municipal elections. It is not possible to pay the salaries of permanent staff and the wages of daily workers with the MMC’s available funds. Although MMC has some developmental funds, the same cannot be used to pay salaries, and thus, there are high chances that the salaries will get delayed this month,” informed an MMC official on condition of anonymity.
As per sources, MMC requires around Rs 80 lakh to pay the salaries of over 300 employees, including permanent staff and daily wage workers, per month. Earlier, the MMC broke fixed deposits a few times with the belief that the same would be reimbursed by the government in the form of salary grants. Salary reimbursement grants of Rs 4 crore were sanctioned and due in May-June, but the same has still not been released. Similarly, the MMC’s octroi of over Rs 1.75 crore rupees was sanctioned months ago, but it is yet to be received.
These factors have led to severe financial crisis in MMC.
“Every time the citizens and government blame the municipal staff for the slow recovery of dues, which have crossed Rs 10 crore. Nobody considers the fact that whenever the municipal staff tries to recover the dues, they are stalled either due to political pressure or election duty,” said another municipal employee on condition of anonymity.
