MARGAO
As the Municipal employees went without salaries for the second day on Friday for want of sufficient funds in the treasury, Margao Municipal Chief Officer on Friday constituted two more recovery teams, taking the number of teams set up to recover outstanding revenue to four.
Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes also made a fervent plea to the traders and businessmen to voluntarily clear their tax dues before the civic body gets cracking against the tax defaulters.
As things stand today, the civic employees went without their September salaries since there were no sufficient funds in the coffers to pay the salary bill amounting to Rs 1.5 crore.
The Chief Officer was candid enough in admitting that the civic body could not arrange the funds to pay the staff salaries. “We could not pay the salaries as the money was still short to clear the payments”, he said.
Sources in the know informed that the MMC was struggling to arrange money for salary despite recovery teams fanning out in the commercial capital.
The four recovery teams will be on the job everyday from 9.30 am to 1 pm and submit the details to the office in the evening session.
Besides, the Chief Officer made an impassioned plea to the traders, businessmen and the households to come forward and clear their tax dues. He said the MMC had waived off the penalties the defaulters are liable to pay, adding that the civic body would levy the penalty again if there is no response from the tax defaulters.
The CO warned that the municipality will go all out to recover the taxes. “We will also levy penalty if defaulters do not pay their taxes”, he warned.
Given the situation and the ground reality that the revenue recoveries are progressing at a slow pace, sources do not rule out the possibility of employees receiving their salaries by the end of next week.
