MARGAO: It’s official. While most government and semi-government officials must have received their salaries on Thursday, the last day of the month, Margao Municipal employees had to go without their salary.
Reason: There was no sufficient fund in the MMC treasury on Thursday to meet the salary bill amounting to Rs 1.5 crore. If sources are to be believed, the MMC had only Rs 50 lakh fund in its coffer by Thursday and the civic body is facing an uphill task to arrange the balance amount of Rs one crore.
Attempts by the MMC officials to mop up revenue via recoveries brought in only around Rs six lakh on Thursday.
MMC Chief Officer Agnelo Fernandes informed that the salaries could not be paid to the employees for want of sufficient funds. “I am helpless since there was no sufficient fund in the treasury. We also cannot go for premature withdrawal of fixed deposits since the civic body could recoup a fixed deposit certificate which was closed last time round”, he said.
Agnelo pointed out the only option now left for the civic body is to go after the tax defaulters and recover the taxes.
“We will wait and see how much revenue can come to the civic body on Friday. If we manage to recover at least Rs 10 lakh a day, we will be in a position to pay the salaries by next week”, he said.
This is the first time in recent months that the MMC could not pay the staff salaries for want of funds in its coffers. While the MMC is struggling to arrange Rs 1.5 crore to pay the salary bill, the civic body will have to arrange for additional Rs 50 lakh for clearing wages of daily wage and contract workers.
While the civic body used to normally pay by last day of the month, the daily wage and contract workers were paid around the 7th or 8th day of the following month.
The MMC has constituted two teams to recover the tax arrears pegged close to Rs 20 crore. “Members of these two teams have been on the field in the last four days to get the taxes. We are on the job, but the revenue is not coming in a big way so far”, an official said.
Exuding confidence that the work put in by the recovery team in the last four days would show results by next week, the official was hoping against hope that the tax defaulters will come and clear their dues.
