By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The employees of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) under the banner of Shillong Municipal Employees Association (SMEA) have threatened to go on an agitation if the Government failed to respond to their demands within the given deadline.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, SMEA president S Pyngrope said that they had given enough time for the Government to respond to their demands.
“But now we have decided that if the Government does not comply to our demands within the given deadline of 30 days, we will be forced to go on agitations,” Pyngrope said. According to him, the employees were yet to receive arrears since 2007.
While expressing their disappointment over the treatment meted out to SMB employees, he said that the government recently released Rs 47 crore for college teachers but chose to abstain from releasing their pending arrears which amounts to only Rs 3 crore.
Pyngrope also informed that attempts to meet the Chief Executive Officer of the SMB failed as he did not show up for work on Wednesday. The SMEA president also rued the fact that the employees faced several hardships besides irregular salary disbursement, to add to promotion being blocked and festival allowances not being disbursed.
Pyngrope elaborated that in 2010, the then Municipal Affairs Minister who remains the same till date had assured the employees of seeking remedial measures to this problem but unfortunately no outcome has evolved so far. Approximately Rs 65 lakh a month is the salary component for the little over 450 employees.