Union alleges delay is leading to extra interest burden on municipal employees
MARGAO
The South Goa unit of Bhimshakti Sangatan has urged all municipal employees who have taken loans, where EMIs are deducted from salaries and sent to banks, to check their loan accounts.
District president Savio Coutinho said that while the organisation has been taking up issues of Margao Municipal Council (MMC) workers, it has come across serious concerns, including delays in loan repayments. He said many employees have complained that even after regularly paying EMIs for the full loan period, their loans are still not fully cleared.
He cited an example where a worker may have to pay nearly Rs 60,000 extra, and warned employees to verify their accounts as they may be unknowingly paying additional amounts towards their loans.
Coutinho gave details of a case in which an MMC worker took a secured loan of Rs 6.50 lakh from a local bank in October 2025, to be repaid over 10 years through 120 EMIs of Rs 9,705 each. However, even after paying 124 instalments through salary deductions and an additional Rs 10,000 in cash towards the first instalment, the worker still has a pending amount of Rs 28,600, he said.
He added that Bhimshakti Sangatan’s study found that MMC had been transferring the EMIs late, sometimes well after the due date and even after the next EMI had become due. As a result, extra interest was added to the loan over time.
The organisation has questioned why, when EMI amounts are deducted from employees’ salaries on the first of every month, the MMC transfers the money to banks only between the 23rd and 30th, and sometimes even in the following month.
Coutinho said Bhimshakti Sangatan will consult its legal team to explore whether the concerned department can be held responsible for the extra financial burden caused to employees due to delays in transferring EMIs on time.
