Most of the city corporations are facing serious financial hardships as they are unable to collect revenue due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
As a result, there is an extreme crisis to pay the salaries, allowances and bonuses of officers and employees of the city corporations, authorities concerned said.
Some organizations have also applied to the concerned ministry for financial assistance. Some 10 out of 12 city corporations are facing such deep financial crisis at this moment. Of these 12, Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) is facing the worst financial crisis, official sources said.
Besides, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Khulna, Gazipur, Narayanganj, Barisal, Rangpur, Comilla and Mymensingh citycorporations are also facing similar problems in collecting revenue, of these, the situation of Gazipur and Narayanganj city corporations are relatively better.
However, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) does not have any financial crisis while the current financial situation of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) is said to be relatively stable.
Sources inside the city corporations said that the main income of these city corporations and municipal authorities are realizing holding tax and license fees, raising money from seasonal fares, advertisements, entertainment tax and a few others.
CCC is in deep problem of paying salaries and allowances. Uncertainty looms over paying of monthly salaries, allowances and Eid bonuses to officers and employees of CCC.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CCC Md Samsuddoha told Bangladesh Post, “We are in difficult situation. Revenue collection of CCC in last month is almost zero. We could not pay salaries and allowances of the officers and employees in due time.”
He also said, “Attempts are being made to collect dues from government institutions. I have sent two letters to the Local Government Ministry informing about the problem. One letter has been sent asking for special allocation and other is for dues from government institutions.”
There are about 9,000 permanent and temporary employees in CCC. Their monthly salary and allowance totals about Tk 20 crore. Eid bonus is another Tk. 5 crore.
Mohammad Saifuddin, chief accounting officer of CCC said, “We have two sources of income. One is the government's allocation to the development sector and the other is the internal revenue. Staff salaries are paid from revenue collection. But there was no income in April.”
According to DSCC sources, the total revenue target for the current financial year is Tk 856 crore. About Tk 359 crore has been collected until March. Although the target for holding tax is Tk 350 crore, the corporation has been able to collect Tk 156 crore.
Besides, the corporation has been able to collect Tk 52 lakh from license fees out of target of Tk 9 crore, about Tk 19 crore from city markets rents out of target of Tk 35 crore and only Tk 61 crore from market salami out of the target Tk 310 crore.
The DSCC has a total of 8,300 permanent and temporary employees. Of these, about 2,300 are permanent. They are paid around Tk 23 crore per month. And anotherTk 7 crore for Eid bonus.
Although the DSCC has paid the April salary-allowance and Eid bonus, the organization is skeptical about the month of May.
However, there is no shortage of revenue in Dhaka North City Corporation.
Abdul Hamid Miah, chief revenue officer of DNCC said, “The citizens of DNCC pay regular taxes. Revenue collection stopped due to holidays. However, there is no shortage of money. Salary-allowance and Eid bonus of the officers and employees have been paid. With the money in the fund, there will be no problem for the next 5 to 6 months.”
According to Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) sources, the revenue collection of RCC has stopped due to coronavirus.
RCC’s revenue collection target for the current financial year is Tk 70 crore. The authorities have collected only Tk 30 crore so far. About 550 permanent and 2,500 temporary officers and employees are working in the city corporation.
Revenue Officer ASM Noor-e-Saeed said that the staff had to pay around Tk 4.5 crore per month from the RCC's own income.
According to the Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) sources, most of the activities in Sylhet have come to a standstill. Revenue is not being collected. There is a financial deficit.
SCC chief executive officer Bidhayak Roy Chowdhury said, “We have 450 permanent and 530 temporary officers and employees. Expenditure on salary and allowances is Tk 1 crore 75 lakh. We have paid the salary and allowance of April. But it will be tough to pay the salary of May.”
