Upset over the inordinate delay in sorting out the problem relating to allocation towards pension of municipal corporation employees, the council of the Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation on Thursday resolved to make one last attempt to convince the State government, through an all-party delegation, of the need for resolving the issue early. Or, it will take the path of agitation.
The issue, which forced the Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation to make provision for pension of the municipal employees from its general fund, was raised during the zero hour of the municipal council meeting by the former Mayor Viranna Savadi, who sought to know how long the corporation had to bear with it.
Barring Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation and Belagavi Municipal Corporation, the pension of retired employees of all other municipal bodies in the State is being borne by the State government. A technical problem had resulted in the two municipal corporations being left out and despite repeated efforts in the last few years, the issue has not been sorted out resulting in HDMC diverting ₹ 105 crore from its general fund, which otherwise would have been used for taking up development works.
After other councillors, including Sudhir Saraf, joined the discussion, the Chief Accounts Officer told the meeting that a recently an order on allocating ₹ 3.64 crore towards pension had been released to the municipal corporation but the problem was that the Director of Small Savings had not been authorised yet to withdraw the amount towards pension account.
Meanwhile, a comment by the former Mayor and Congress councillor Prakash Kyarakatti that BJP councillors had been raising the issue but were not serious about pursuing it to its logical end resulted in BJP councillors raising an objection to it. Then, Janata Dal(S) councillor Altaf Kittur added fuel to it by making comments against BJP leaders.
Ultimately, the discussion ended with Mayor D.K. Chavan announcing that a meeting on the issue would be held with senior leaders of all parties and an all-party delegation would take up the issue with District in-charge Minister Vinay Kulkarni and then with the Chief Minister.
