Salaries delayed again, Ludhiana civic body awaits GST share

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 19

Facing funds crunch, the Municipal Corporation (MC) is yet to release salaries of employees for July. The salaries of employees are being delayed again.

Earlier, officials were directed to intensify the recovery drive. The civic body has generated an income of Rs 169.11 crore from April 1 to August 17. An estimated Budget of Rs 1,034.23 crore for the financial year 2022-23 was approved by the MC House in March. But the proposed Budget is now Rs 968.13 crore for 2022-23, as per a document of the MC’s account branch.

The corporation is expecting to receive Rs 610 crore as GST from the state government during the financial year but it has received only Rs 111.80 crore so far since April 1. An employees’ union leader said the delay in releasing the GST share by the government was one of the major reasons behind the salary delay.

Collection under the head of advertisements is only Rs 2.22 crore from April 1 to August 17. The MC had earlier proposed to generate an income of Rs 22.50 crore from advertisements during 2022-23 when the annual Budget was presented before the MC House in March.

As per information, the civic body has collected Rs 27.16 crore property tax and Rs 8.89 crore as water supply and sewerage charges since April 1. It has collected Rs 2.26 crore as rent and tehbazari fee so far. Under the head of the composition fee, the civic body has collected Rs 9.92 crore during the period.

The MC aims to collect Rs 24 crore as development/change of land use charges during the financial year but it has collected only Rs 3.15 crore til August 17.

Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu said the one of the main sources of the MC’s revenue was the GST share. He said the civic body was yet to receive the pending GST share from the state government. The recovery drive was underway.

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