Concerning the payment of the salaries and allowances of officials and employees of country's 328 municipalities, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has allocated Tk 25 crore for the municipalities amid the Covid-19 crisis.
“The money has been allocated from the Prime Minister’s Relief and Welfare Fund,” said PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim on Thursday.
Some 12,519 officials and employees of the 328 municipalities as well as 20,000 cleaning workers recruited through outsourcing will be benefited from the allocation.
The 328 municipalities with their limited resources have relentlessly been working to ensure various services, including uninterrupted water supply, sanitation activities, spraying disinfectants, distribution of face masks, doing funeral of deceased and distribution of relief materials among the needy people facing various adversities and challenges amid the countrywide shutdown started on March 26 last.
Besides, the local bodies are now working to destroy Aedes mosquito breeding grounds for containing dengue.
Most of the municipalities are unable to pay salaries and allowance of their staff in time as their revenue collection declined sharply in the last two months.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic situation, all the regular revenue collection of the municipalities from different sectors, including holding tax, trade license, rent of shop and auction (Izara)of haats and bazaars remained suspended for the last two months.
Under the circumstances, the officials and employees of the municipalities have been passing through a very tough time for not getting salaries for the last two months.
When the matter came to the notice of the Prime Minister, she has extended this financial assistance to them.
(Source: UNB)
