VASCO
Diwali would have been a subdued celebration for many staffers of Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) as they are yet to be paid salaries for October.
Anticipating hue and cry over pending salaries on Monday, MMC Chairperson Damodar Kaskar met Urban Development Minister Milind Naik on Saturday morning to voice concerns over the financial crunch faced by the MMC and the issue of pending salaries.
Naik assured Kaskar to help out the council so that salaries could be paid by Wednesday.
Later speaking to reporters, Naik said the State government can only support development works while the municipal council, as an autonomous body, has to make its own financial arrangements.
"The MMC always gets help from the government, but since it is an autonomous body, it should be self-sustainable in terms of revenue generation at least.”
“We never faced issues earlier but we have now noticed that the salary issue has become a regular affair. I will take up the matter with the chairperson and other officials to ascertain the basic problems. As of now, I can only say that I can try and get staff salaries cleared by Wednesday," said Naik.
The minister admitted that the MMC would earlier get revenue from octroi, which would help the council.
“I have had a discussion with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on this issue and will try and work out some solution. As of now, Octroi is classified under GST, but definitely, we have to work out a kind of a permanent solution to resolve this regular issue.”
“However, the MMC has to find a way out and start with recovery or create ways to generate revenue, failing which the issue will never be resolved," said Naik.
