TURA: The NPP-led Garo Hills Progressive Alliance, which is at the helm of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, lashed out at the Congress-led GHUA for demanding administration rule and blamed the opposition for “fishing in troubles waters”.
GHADC Deputy CEM Augustine R Marak said on Wednesday, the third day of the employees’ strike, it was the opposition’s ploy to stop the central fund to the Council by turning the situation into a political one.
“We have seen the statement by Congress MDC Stevie Marak seeking imposition of administrative rule and the unexpected staff agitation shows the ongoing protest is being politically motivated by opposition members,” said Marak, adding, “This appears to be a ploy by the opposition Congress to try and prevent the release of the Rs 100.71 crore granted by the Central government to the GHADC.”
Marak also accused the opposition MDCs of creating the ongoing impasse. “When we initially began negotiations with the employees, we put across the practical problems faced by the Council. Most of the employees were aware of the ground reality and were even convinced but later there appears to be political influence on them. The employees should not have been used as political weapons by the opposition MDCs,” said Marak, but acknowledged that the employees’ demands were genuine and were being addressed by the present executive committee.
Responding to the opposition’s claims that the Jaintia and the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Councils were in better financial position than GHADC, Marak said, “One cannot compare KHADC and JHADC with our GHADC when it comes to staff salary and revenue collection. Over there they have fewer employees and more revenue sources.”
GHADC CEM Denang T Sangma also took potshots at the opposition Congress alliance saying, “The Congress MDCs, including Independent Tura MDC Rupert Sangma, are blaming us for the current situation but they seem to forget that the financial problem began because of the previous Congress EC that withdrew Rs 22 crore in advance (for the district council elections) from the GHADC royalty share. The Tura MDC is giving baseless allegations,” said the CEM.
GHADC wanted to collect its share of Rs 18 crore that the State government owed it as part of its revenue share from minerals and clear salary dues. But the government, instead of releasing the money to GHADC, adjusted it to the previous advance. The district council needs to pay Rs 4 crore more to clear its dues.
“We have been in power for only 10 months but during this short span of time, we were able to clear five months’ salaries, the backlog created by the Congress EC. Also, nine arrears, which are due since 2011, were cleared by us,” said the CEM.
