The municipal building in Margao.
MARGAO
With the revenue recoveries not keeping pace with the requirements, the Margao Municipal Council seemed bracing for Plan B as the A class civic body has so far failed to make the salary payments to the staff and employees for the month of September.
With the financial position slowly inching its way to the Rs one crore mark, after the recent tax recovery drive in the commercial capital of the state, MMC Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes in consultation with Chairperson Lyndon Pereira is planning to make the payments on Thursday, but only the net salary. And, given that the daily wage and contract workers need to be paid by the next 2-3 days, the civic body has also drawn up a plan to clear the payments by paying only the net salary.
Chairperson Lyndon, sources said, is reportedly insisting that the daily wage and contract workers be also paid along with the staff and employees given there’s already a delay by the civic body to clear the salary and wage payments.
With the ongoing recovery drive bringing in only a couple of lakhs of revenue in the last five three days, sources pointed out that the civic body may even go for the premature withdrawal of a fixed deposit to ensure that the staff, employees and daily wage and contract workers receive their salary and wages for the month of September.“We cannot allow the workers to suffer just because the recoveries are slow. We are going for Plan B, wherein the employees will be paid their net salaries as the civic body has mopped up close to Rs one crore till date”, a senior officer said.
What has caused the worry to the civic administration is that the entire system may collapse if there’s further delay in the payment of salaries and wages to the employees and workers if the municipal workers resort to a strike as threatened by the Goa Municipal Employees Association.
That’s not all. The municipality will hardly have any time at its disposal to arrange for the funds for paying salary for the month of October, which is expected to be due in another 23 days. Given that Diwali festivities will commence in the first week of November, sources in the MMC pointed out that the civic body can ill afford to cause delay in the disbursement of salaries and wages around festival time.
