'GST share not received', Ludhiana municipal corporation struggles to pay staff salaries

LUDHIANA: Ludhiana municipal corporation, which was once the richest civic body of the state, is reeling under acute shortage of funds. Its employees have not received salaries for the previous month, while August is also about to end. The officials said they have not received the GST share from the state government. The total GST share for this financial year is Rs 610 crore and till now only Rs 111 crore have been received, they added. The MC has achieved only 19% of the total income budget this year.
The civic body had kept a budget of Rs 968 crore for the current financial year. So far, Rs 185 crore has been achieved, while last year till August, Rs 250 crore was achieved. If the MC is unable to give its employees salaries, how will it arrange funds for development works. From October, road work will begin in many areas and the contractors will demand money. In some areas, contractors maintaining tube-wells had refused to work until their dues were cleared, affecting water supply.
An official said, "GST share is a major fund source for the MC. If it is not received, not only disbursal of employees' salaries will be affected but also provision of basic facilities. With July salary not paid, employees who pay EMIs to banks are hard hit. As of now, salaries have only been paid to lower-rung staff, like sewer cleaners, sweepers and peons, as they find it hard to make ends meet."
Mayor Balkar Sandhu has already expressed his helplessness, saying he "cannot do anything unless the government clears the GST share, which is a major component". "During Congress rule, we used to even fight with the local bodies minister for funds, but now the government has changed and so it is difficult to do anything," he added.
10% rebate on property tax till Sep 30
The officials said, "Recovery targets are being met. So far, we have recovered Rs 30.11 crore as property tax and Rs 10.44 crore as water supply and sewerage dues. The collection is better than the previous year. In September, the dues recovery will pick up pace because the last date to avail 10% rebate on total tax amount is September 30. In its wake, Saturdays will be working days so that people could deposit their dues. Sealing of properties is also going on side by side."