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The Mada office in Dhanbad on Tuesday. Picture by Gautam Dey
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The stage may have been set for merger of Mineral Area Development Authority (Mada) with Dhanbad Municipal Corporation with the state cabinet and Assembly passing the Jharkhand Municipality Act 2011 but a number of technical and practical issues, including adjustment of assets and liabilities, need to be ironed out first.
The foremost requirement will be the governor’s clearance followed by deletion of Mada Act 1986 on the basis of which the civic authority was formed. But as the Mada Act was modelled on the Orissa Municipality Act with the approval of the President after the merger of water board (established in 1914) and Jharia Mines Board (established in 1924), its deletion will also necessitate the President’s assent.
The adjustment of assets and liabilities of the cash- strapped body is a major area of concern. The biggest liability before Dhanbad Municipal Corporation will be to clear the dues of Mada employees, both past and present. This includes pending salaries, provident fund and dearness allowance of existing staff and retirement benefits of former hands. In fact, several employees have filed cases against the authorities in court for realisation of their dues.
According to sources, a whopping sum of Rs 45 crore has to be cleared towards pending salaries of the 1,840 employees for 17 months. More than Rs 80 crore vis-a-vis provident fund, Rs 5 crore vis-a-vis group insurance and more than Rs 20 crore vis-a-vis retirement benefits are also pending.
“We welcome the new act, but we are concerned about our salaries and other benefits like promotion, revision of salary, provident fund and retirement benefits,” said the convener of Mada Sanyunkta Karmachari Samanvya Samiti, Devendra Nath Dubey.
Mada also owes royalty worth Rs 7.65 to the Bihar government and power charges worth Rs 80 crore to the Jharkhand State Electricity Board.
The adjustment and absorption of the existing 1,840 employees, who will be rendered jobless once the merger takes place, is the second biggest challenge. This is because the sanctioned staff strength of Dhanbad Municipal Corporation is only 1,037. Of them, 263 are already working at various positions.
However, it has huge assets to the tune of more than Rs 500 crore but a major portion of it lies outside the municipal corporation limit in Topchanchi, Baliapur, Nirsa and Chirkunda. Mada has to also recover Rs 30-40 crore from BCCL, Dhanbad Municipal Corporation, Dhanbad district board, IISCO and railways for supply of water.
Secretary of the urban development department Nitin Madan Kulkarni allayed all fears, saying that the new act mentions everything in detail regarding adjustments of assets and liabilities of Mada. “All issues will be sorted out before the merger,” he said.
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