MUMBAI: On March 31, around 9,000 BMC employees, particularly those in the conservancy and solid waste management departments, were in for a shock. When they received their salary slips, the employees discovered that only Re 1 had been credited as their total salary for the month.
The reason for the anomaly was the employees’ failure to link their PAN and Aadhaar cards before March 31 as mandated by the income tax department. The affected workers, now scrambling to gather documents to link both cards, are upset with the BMC for not warning them earlier.
Nagesh Ghadge, a conservancy worker stationed at the F South ward chowky in Parel, has been employed since 2007. He earns a monthly income of ₹49,000 for his seven-hour shift and commutes from Sion Koliwada for his job which entails cleaning the BMC vans used for distributing containers and dustbins.
“We were not even told about linking the two cards,” complained Ghadge. “We have now been asked to submit documents and assured that we will get our salaries back. If we don’t get them, it will be a betrayal. This is unjust, and the least the BMC could have done was to ask our superiors to make an announcement at all conservancy chowkies to get the cards linked.”
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Karpan Chinapayan’s son, Kartik, assumed his father’s role as a conservancy worker following Karpan’s paralytic stroke 18 months ago. “My son, who sweeps roads in Andheri West, received Re 1 as salary,” said Karpan. “We would have got the two cards linked, had we known earlier.”
Vijay D Sakpal, a BMC labourer from the solid waste management department, procured a list of 9,000 workers from A to T wards who got a salary of Re 1. “What are we going to eat this month? They didn’t even warn us that our salary will get deducted, and neither are we educated enough to know that we are supposed to link our PAN and Aadhar cards,” said Sakpal, who has been working since 2005 and earns a monthly income of ₹55,000.
Naresh Parmar, a BMC worker, who sweeps roads in F South ward in Parel, said, “I earn ₹25,000 every month. Why couldn’t the BMC inform us a month in advance? How are we going to fend for ourselves now?”
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Sanjog Kabare, deputy municipal commissioner, solid waste management, told HT that the issue was related to the accounts department, and that he had spoken to the office of the chief accountant, treasury, which is in charge of disbursing salaries.
“Their contention is that March 31 was the last day for linking the Aadhar and PAN cards,” he said. “This is known to everybody through TV and newspaper advertisements. If the cards aren’t linked, PAN card benefits are stopped, and 20% income tax is deducted from the salaries. Because of the 20% annual deduction of TDS on salary, the workers have not received any money this month.”
Kabare added that the workers needed to get their cards linked immediately. “The finance department extended the June 2023 deadline by almost a year,” he said. “It was an individual responsibility to get the cards linked.” The deputy municipal commissioner added that whether the workers’ salaries would be reimbursed after linking the two cards would depend on the income tax rules.
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