Two months delay in KMC 100-day workers’ salaries, mayor Firhad Hakim apologises
Telegraph | 23 March 2025
Hundred-day workers with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) have not received their remunerations for more than two months, mayor Firhad Hakim said at the civic body’s monthly session on Saturday. He apologised for the delay.
Hundred-day workers are people employed under the West Bengal Urban Employment Scheme, which is modelled on the national rural employment guarantee scheme.
An official of the KMC said those employed under this scheme provide various services like cleaning drains and sewer lines, sweeping streets, collecting daily waste from households, cleaning water bodies or working as field workers for the health department of the civic bodies.
Hakim said the state finance department had now agreed to release the funds. “It is expected to arrive within three days, and the salaries will be credited to the workers’ bank accounts, thereafter.”
The mayor’s admission came while replying to questions from two Opposition councillors — one from the BJP and another from the CPM — about the delay in payments to those employed under the 100-day scheme.
“Their salaries have been delayed by more than two months. I apologise for this delay. I wanted to set up an escrow fund from where the KMC will release salaries to the workers if there is a delay in receiving funds from the finance department....But the department did not approve this arrangement,” he said.
Hakim, who is also the state’s urban development and municipal affairs minister, said the finance department held back the funds because some municipalities did not provide utilisation certificates that are supposed to be submitted showing that the money received for a particular purpose has been used for that.
About a week ago workers employed by the Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) for the prevention of vector-borne diseases tasks protested outside the civic body’s headquarters over non-payment of salaries.
An official of the HMC said on Saturday that the funds for their salaries had been held up but was later released. “They have received their salaries.”
On Saturday, a KMC councillor from the Left Front also told Hakim he should ensure that 100-day workers get their salaries on a fixed date every month.
“Please see that they receive their salaries on a fixed date every month. There is no such fixed date now,” said Nandita Roy, a councillor elected on CPM ticket.