VMC finances in doldrums

Employees’ salaries not paid for last two months

November 26, 2013 01:34 pm | Updated November 18, 2016 04:25 am IST - VIJAYAWADA:

The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation’s finances have gone into a state of disarray during the last few months for various reasons. It was unable to pay the salaries for the last two months as per schedule.

The Corporation requires Rs.15 crore a month to meet the operational and maintenance costs, including payment of salaries of employees, wages of workers and payment of electricity bills.

The employees haven’t received full salary for August. The Corporation could pay up to only August 12. The VMC requires not less than Rs 14 crore for clearing pending salaries of all employees, including contract employees, and wages of DWCUA groups’ members engaged in sanitation works. However, the total funds available, sources say, would not be more than Rs 4 crore.

The salaries of permanent employees would be around Rs 5.50 crore per month while the contract employees’ salaries would be in the range of Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1 crore per month. The DWCUA workers’ salaries would be close to Rs 2 crore while the pensioners would have to be paid Rs 1.50 crore per month, sources say.

As many as 3,226 people are engaged in sanitation works in the city. Barring 1,000 permanent workers, the sanitary workers are drawn from DWCUA and CMEY groups. There are about 700 ministerial and class-IV staff and more than 400 contract and 1,150 permanent employees. The corporation has to earmark Rs. 50 crore per annum for salaries.

The employees staged protest demanding payment of salaries through treasury and also in time in 2009. The VMC higher-ups then asserted that there were no financial constraints in paying salaries by fifth of every month. However, the situation did not improve much to the agony of employees, and the VMC is unable to pay the salaries as assured.

The Corporation finances are in the red after it began implementing projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). It is unable to pay the salaries in time for the last two years. The VMC would be able to pay the salaries only if the revenue wing succeeds in collecting the dues/taxes. The VMC higher-ups are mounting pressure on the field staff to recover the dues, sources say.

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