E-Paper
Crown of thorns for Mr Mayor
BEING THE Mayor of Kanpur is a formidable task. Pot-holed roads, garbage heaps, chowked sewer lines, scarcity of water and water-logging during monsoon are just some of the malaise that afflict this city. Apart from these the new Mayor, Ravindra Patnim, will also have to confront an empty exchequer!
BEING THE Mayor of Kanpur is a formidable task. Pot-holed roads, garbage heaps, chowked sewer lines, scarcity of water and water-logging during monsoon are just some of the malaise that afflict this city. Apart from these the new Mayor, Ravindra Patnim, will also have to confront an empty exchequer!
With the revenue realisation drive at a standstill for the last two months the financial crisis that besets the Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) has been aggravated.
The staff is all out to wage a against the non-payment of wages. Employees are in no mode to spare even the newly-elected Mayor and are seething with anger over the issue of non-payment of wages for the month of September and October.
There is a possibility that Patni might have to tackle employees going on a strike right after he takes charge.
Clearing pending dues of Rs 70 crore of pensioners of the civic body could also prove to be a major challenge before Patni. With the State Government backing out from extending any financial assistance.
The ongoing legal battle at the Allahabad High Court is yet another problem for Patni. The High Court had imposed a ban on all payments to be made by KMC including payment of salary to employees. The decision was given by the High Court on a writ petition filed by the Pensioners’ Association seeking payment of pending dues worth Rs 70 crore. Even after several hearings, the KMC had not been able to seek any concession from the High Court resulting in non-payment of wages to its employees over the last two months.
For the past one year, all development activities have also come to a standstill in the city due to a boycott call given by contractors. Contractors have boycotted all tender proceedings over the issue of non-payment of pending bills.
No new project has been taken up by the KMC in the past one year resulting in stagnation of all development activities in the city.
Patni’s dream of a clean and green city might also have to face many problems in the initial stages of his tenure. With a ban on the disbursement of wages, the KMC had not been able to pay salaries to its safia karmacharies along with other staff. Disgruntled over the issue these safai karamcharies could also join the strike if the KMC Employees’ Union gives a call for that.
Recently, petrol pumps supplying diesel to garbage disposal dumps refused to supply any further diesel to dumps on the issue of non-payment of pending dues. It was only after the intervention of Municipal Commissioner Badal Chatterjee one petrol pump owner agreed to supply diesel.
