BIRGUNJ, JULY 10
A salary dispute brought financial operations at Birgunj Metropolitan City to a standstill on the final day of the fiscal year after employees padlocked the Accounts Section, disrupting salary payments and other financial transactions.
Daily wage workers, contract employees and some permanent staff launched the protest, saying they had not received salaries for the past two months. They locked the Accounts Section after learning that the metropolitan office was preparing to release only one month's salary for permanent employees due to lower-than-expected internal revenue collection.
The protesting employees have demanded that salaries for permanent, contract and daily wage staff be released simultaneously, arguing that all employees should be treated equally.
According to Accounts Officer Rupanarayan Raut, payment vouchers for the salary of permanent employees for the month of Jestha had already been prepared before the padlock halted the process. He said the metropolitan office spends around Rs 38.6 million each month on salaries and allowances.
Following the protest, Acting Mayor Imtiaz Alam and representatives of the agitating employees entered talks in an effort to resolve the dispute.
The disruption has also raised concerns over the timely utilisation of conditional grants received from the federal government for education and health programmes. Officials warned that failure to complete payments before the fiscal year-end deadline could result in significant financial losses.
According to a metropolitan official, nearly Rs 70 million in budget utilisation could be affected if expenditure procedures are not completed within the stipulated timeframe.
Raut said the Financial Act requires payments under federally funded conditional programmes to be completed by midnight on Asar 25. Any unspent conditional grant must be returned to the federal and provincial governments.
Although payment vouchers worth around Rs 17 million have been prepared for permanent employees, the protesting staff have refused to lift the padlock until the metropolitan office guarantees salary payments for permanent, contract and daily wage employees through the month of Jestha.
The protest has disrupted salary disbursements, financial administration and other year-end fiscal procedures, while negotiations between the metropolitan leadership and employees were continuing at the time of reporting.