District magistrate Santosh Kumar Mall (extreme left) with mayor Bimla Devi Tulsiyan at the meeting in Muzaffarpur on Tuesday. Picture by Prakash Kumar

Muzaffarpur, July 5: Be mentally prepared to wade through waterlogged streets for some time more. With the strike of the civic body employees owing allegiance to Nagar Nigam Kamgar Union (NNKU) likely to continue for some time, water from choked drains would continue to flood your backyard and thoroughfares.

The employees of the civic body are on strike from June 26 seeking immediate implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations. The funds-starved corporation is in no position to fulfil their demand.

The only way out is collection of Rs 1.2 crore holding tax from defaulters. The district magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Santosh Kumar Mall, prescribed collection of holding tax as the pill to the ailing civic body.

Mall said: “Different government departments and the private institutions owed Rs 1.2 crore in holding taxes. If the employees recover it, the corporation would be willing to implement the Sixth Pay Commission.”

The district magistrate said: “The corporation earned around Rs 5.64 crore annually from all the resources. With the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission, there would be an additional financial burden on the corporation, which is already funds-starved, may not be in a position to meet the salary expenses of its employees.”

Sources said several government organisations, including Indian Railways, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Bihar police, district magistrate’s office, education department, fire brigade, registration department, commercial tax department, Khudiram Bose Memorial Central Jail, the electricity department, Sports Authority of India, owe holding tax to the civic body.

Mayor Bimla Devi Tulsiyan said: “The corporation has sent repeated reminders to the departments concerned to pay the holding tax but to no avail.”

The district magistrate has asked the commissioner of municipal corporation, Arun Kumar Singh, to constitute teams to recover holding tax.

Singh has involved 120 personnel into 20 teams to recover the holding tax.

The corporation has also decided to involve 28 representatives of the wards under the corporation to ensure timely recovery of holding tax from the defaulters.

Earlier, the NNKU members headed by its secretary Ashok Rai, met the mayor and other officials thrice to find ways for implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations.

The mayor held a review meeting with deputy mayor Mohammad Nisaruddin and the municipal commissioner. After deliberations, Tulsiyan expressed helplessness to implement the Sixth Pay Commission owing to funds crisis.

“The urban development department is not providing any financial help to meet expenses on the implementation of Sixth Pay Commission recommendations,” said the mayor.

The civic amenities in the town are in a mess. Heavy showers with the onset of monsoon worsened the situation. Waterlogging has become a perpetual problem because of choked drains.