Ludhiana: Once considered to be the richest civic body of state, the Ludhiana municipal corporation has fallen on hard times. And its fortunes haven’t changed even after Congress swept to power in MC elections.
The financial crisis has reached a point where the MC has been unable to pay salaries to its employees for the past two months.
Almost every month, employees threaten to go on strike to get their salaries released. On Thursday too, employees gave 72-hour ultimatum to MC commissioner Jaskiran Singh to release their salary for April and May, otherwise which they would go on a strike.
The employees also protested at D zone office against non-payment of salaries.
After the formation of new MC house in March, there was a hope for improvement in the financial stature of the city. But even after three months, there is hardly any relief for the employees or development works in the city.
Not only the employees, but the newly-elected councillors too haven’t got their monthly emoluments even once.
Despite giving push to the recovery drives, the corporation has been unable to match the gap between revenues and liabilities. Local bodies minister Navjot Sidhu has already advised the MC officials for generating revenue from their sources instead of relying on government for funds.
The officials, however, claimed that around Rs 40 crore GST installment is yet to be received from the government and partial payment is expected by the evening. Some of the employees will get salary on Friday, while the rest will get it by Monday, they added.
MC commissioner Jaskiran Singh said, “We are in financial crunch, but we will find solutions and pace up the recovery drives.” Regarding employees’ threat of going on a strike, he said they would get installation of GST from the government shortly and they would clear the salary of employees.
Mayor blames SAD-BJP for financial mess
Mayor Balkar Sandhu, who had to increase his daily dose of BP medicine since his elevation as mayor, held the SAD-BJP rule responsible for the financial crunch in the civic body. He said in the past 10 years, SAD-BJP councillors were running the MC House and they had taken a loan from HUDCO for which they are still paying Rs 8 crore per month in the form of installment.
He said they were finding new income sources. They are expecting to generate Rs 50 crore from illegal submersible pumps and he has asked the officials of building branch to recover at least Rs 75 crore in this financial year.
Moreover, the Mayor has conducted a meeting with all party heads asking them to help MC officials in recovering pending dues from public in case they want development in their respective wards.
Gap between earning, expenditure
As per officials, the gap between the MC earning and expenditure is increasing with each passing day. Whereas from recovery under various heads, the MC is generating almost Rs 32 crore per month, but they have to pay Rs 60 crore every month in the form of salaries and other expenditures. Total liabilities of MC Ludhiana are over Rs 100 crore.
Dependent on government
The major drawback with MC Ludhiana is its dependence on the government for funds. The officials never tried to trace new sources of income for the civic body. The condition of MC deteriorated when the state government rolled back octroi duty. At that time, income was Rs 1.5 crore daily. Similarly, after the imposition of GST, the VAT installment from the state government stopped.
Earlier MC used to get around Rs 20-25 crore in the form of monthly installment of VAT and Rs 2.5 to 3 crore in the form of octroi on electricity. The total expenditure on salaries is Rs 26-27 crore and on pension it is between Rs 3.5-4 crore approximately.
The MC was arranging salary and pension to the employees with installment of VAT and octroi on electricity and now both have stopped.
Ad policy, sale of MC properties and OTS for buildings
For revenue generation, the MC is now pinning hopes on the advertisement policy through which they are aiming to generate around Rs 40-50 crores per year. The tenders for hiring companies are expected to be floated on Monday. Similarly, MC commissioner Jaskiran Singh said for generating money they are going to put up agenda in the house for auctioning MC properties so that increasing gap between the income and expenditure could be reduced. He said they would seek approval from the mayor and other house members.
Mayor Balkar Sandhu said in the next few days, the one-time settlement policy for the buildings constructed in violation of building bylaws and MC can generate good revenue from this policy.