TURA: The opposition National People’s Party (NPP) has intensified its attack against the ruling Congress in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council calling for the resignation of Chief Executive Member (CEM) Boston Ch. Marak over the latter’s failure to pay employees their monthly salaries for the past 14 months.
“Never before in the history of the GHADC has employees been denied their salaries for over a year. The Executive Committee headed by Boston Marak has brought the district council to the brink of disaster and created a history of sorts,” criticized former CEM and leader of the opposition in the council Denang T Sangma of the NPP in a statement to the media.
Lashing out at the former Chairman of the council, Denang Sangma accused Boston Marak of being ‘power hungry’.
“Boston with support from the Congress toppled my EC in March this year and said it was because we were unable to pay the employees their dues. On taking charge as CEM he openly said his priority was to improve the GHADC and clear all pending dues. He has not only failed as a CEM but also betrayed the GHADC. With power comes responsibility. He should step down on moral grounds for his leadership failure,” stated Denang Sangma.
The former CEM has claimed that a substantial amount of the GHADC debt left behind by the previous Congress EC was able to get cleared during the tenure of the NPP coalition in the district council.
“We were in power for a year and a half during which we cleared one year of dues. Also, the previous Congress EC left behind a huge debt in the form of staff arrears which was cleared by us. When my EC was toppled there were only five months of pending salary to the employees. We were already in the process of clearing the remaining dues when we were removed from power,” said the leader of the opposition while narrating the sequence of events that unfolded.
The NPP MDC has also questioned as to why the state government is unable to bail out the GHADC from its current financial situation.
“Today both the GHADC and the state government are being headed by the Congress. I see no reason why they cannot clear the dues of the employees,” said the NPP leader.