GH NGOs rally behind striking GHADC staff

TURA: Three NGOs from Garo Hills are rallying behind the agitating GHADC employees who started an indefinite strike on Monday to demand for the early release of their salaries which have been pending for nearly ten months now.
In a joint statement issued here on Monday, the NGOs — the GSU, AAYF and AYC — strongly condemned the GHADC’s present Executive Committee for failing to address the grievances of its employees.
The NGOs pointed out that GHADC earns revenue from different sources and that is sufficient to pay the employees’ salaries without depending on State or Central fund.
They also wondered why the problem exists in GHADC and not in other autonomous councils, like the KHADC and the JHADC. “If irregularities in salary disbursement do not occur in the Khasi and the Jaintia autonomous councils, why the same problem is recurring in GHADC? What is being done with the revenue, or is it being diverted for some other purposes,” they said.
Stating that the indefinite strike called by the employees would not only affect GHADC but also the general public, the NGOs urged the current EC to consider the demand of the employees at the earliest.