Goalondo municipal workers without salary for 3 months

The fourth-class employees of Goalondo municipality in Rajbari haven’t been paid their salaries in the last three months due to a “fund crisis.”  Junior clerks, peons, cleaners and other such lower-division employees, who belong to the class-four status, last received their salaries for March in April.    The salaries for the months of April, May and June – as well as the salary for the current month and any corresponding Eid bonuses – are still outstanding.    According to sources, the municipality was established in 2000 and has about 72 fourth-class employees as of now. Of them, 34 are working on a permanent basis with 38 temporary.    The employees have expressed dismay at the continuous failure of the authorities to pay them their dues, which they said were causing them and their families “immense distress.”    One of them, Kabir Hossain, a peon, said though they did not get their salaries, they have continued to carry out their duties unabated.  Salma Akter, a cleaner, said, “The salaries we get may be of small amount but are very crucial for our families. Not getting salaries for months on end means enduring hardships beyond measure.”    Another cleaner, Rakibul Hasan, said he felt “utterly helpless” after the Ramadan began earlier this month. “With the Eid-ul-Fitr less than two week to go, I don’t know what to do with an empty pocket.”   Regarding the matter, Goalondo Municipality Mayor Sheikh Mohammod Nizam Uddin said they did not have “sufficient funds” to pay the employees.    “We do not have sufficient funds to pay them. A significant amount of their salary comes from tax revenues of the municipality, but there are various government and non-government institutions that are not paying their taxes in time. The total dues in this connection are about Tk5m.”   “We will pay their salaries as soon as we have the necessary funds,” he added.