SHILLONG: The Congress-led Opposition in the KHADC on Tuesday raised the issue of appointment of 15 new staff by the previous Executive Council without following the necessary procedure.
Congress MDC from Laitumkhrah, Antonio War, wanted to know whether any interview was conducted before filling up the vacant post and also if the vacant posts were advertised.
KHADC CEM Adelbert Nongrum, while replying to the query, said that 12 of the appointments were made on compassionate grounds.
According to Nongrum, all these appointments were made by the previous Executive Committee.
Reacting to this, War said, “Shifting the responsibility will take us nowhere. It is high time that we streamline the appointment procedure in the Council.”
War further demanded to know the qualifications of the candidates who were appointed in the vacant posts.
Opposition leader and Congress MDC, Pynshngain N Syiem, also impressed on the need to conduct interviews before filling up vacant post in the KHADC.
In reply, the CEM said that he will provide the members with detailed information on the qualifications of the candidates and assured that steps would be taken to streamline the recruitment process in the Council.
MDC laments reduction in issue of labour licenses
Laitumkhrah MDC Antonio War on Tuesday lamented that the number of labour licenses issued in the current fiscal year so far was much less compared to the previous years.
While stating that the number of labour license issued in the last fiscal year was more than 7500, War expressed surprise that so far only 4416 labour licenses had been issued this year.
“This clearly reflects the fact that the Labour department has failed to carry out its job as mandated,” War said during the Question Hour on the first day of the KHADC’s two-day Winter Session on Tuesday.
He reminded that the only way the KHADC can check or regulate migrant labourers is to ensure that each one of them obtains labour license.
“I am sure that a large numbers of migrant labourers who have come to seek employment within the jurisdiction of the Council have not obtained labour license,” the Congress MDC observed, while expressing hope that the Labour department will pull up its socks to ensure that all migrant labourers obtain labour licenses.
In reply, Executive Member in charge Labour department, James Ban Basaiawmoit, said that the department was trying its best to ensure that all migrant labourers obtain labour license from the Council.
He informed that the department has received over 10,000 applications for issue of labour license and the same would be issued only after proper examination of their documents.
“We must take cognizance of the fact that the administration of the Council had totally collapsed for over a month after the fall of the previous Executive Committee and no work could be done during that time,” Basaiawmoit said.
War, however, retorted back that the EM’s argument was not acceptable since the file can be cleared within a single day.