Ponda civic body assures staff of paying March salaries soon

Ponda: Chief officer of the Ponda Municipal Council (PMC), Yogiraj Gosavi, on Monday assured the municipal staff that their March salary will be paid soon.
“We are running short of funds, but we have cleared salary bills of pensioners, while salaries of staff will be paid shortly,” Gosavi told TOI.
Normally, the staff were paid salaries on the first day of every month, but till Monday, the Ponda Municipal Council had not paid salaries due to paucity of funds.
The Ponda Municipal Council officials have been assigned to recover arrears of taxes.
“We have designated some officers to recover dues. Once we get sufficient amounts, salaries will be paid,” the chief officer said.
President of the Municipal Employees’ Association, Keshav Prabhu visited the Ponda Municipal Council on Monday and discussed the issue with Gosavi.
The Ponda Municipal Council’s monthly expenditure is about Rs 60 lakh, but half of the expenses are salary bills.
The problem, the chief officer said, has arisen due to delays in receiving octroi from the government and rent and taxes from users of municipal properties. A source said that the Budhwarpeth market has become a white elephant. Several shops in the complex are vacant for the last several years while the Ponda Municipal Council has to incur expenses towards its maintenance.