No funds to civic bodies, no salary to employees

TARUN GOGOI'S DEVELOPED ASSAM!

Decision in 2013 to provincialize employees still up in air, promise of Rs 500 crore package for municipalities & town committees remains hollow

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, Nov 5: Nearly 3,200 permanent employees of various civic bodies in the State have not received their salaries since April this year.

Confirming this, official sources said that a section of employees of municipality boards and town committees have not received their salaries for nearly a year now.

There are two categories of employees in the civic bodies - permanent and temporary.

The civic bodies pay remunerations to the temporary employees from their own revenue earnings, while the salaries of the permanent employees are paid by the Fourth Assam Fince Commission.

The fince commission releases funds under two heads - salary and non-salary. The funds under the non-salary head are those meant for developmental works.

Sources said that the fince commission has not released even a single penny - under either heads - this fiscal year, which means that no fresh scheme has been initiated by the civic bodies this year.

The neglect meted out to the civic bodies does not end there.

The State government had earlier taken a decision to provincialize the employees of the civic bodies. The matter was discussed threadbare at a cabinet meeting held on September 4, 2013. The cabinet agreed to seek views from the departments concerned for preparing a draft bill.

However, there has been no progress on the issue, more than two years after the cabinet decision.

While the civic bodies are uble to take up fresh schemes due to paucity of funds, the employees who are going without salaries for more than six months now are now struggling to make both ends meet.

On the eve of the recent civic body elections, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had announced a Rs 500 crore package for the municipalities and town committees. That too has remained a hollow promise till date.