19 months due, GHADC staff to get only two months’ salary

TURA: The over 2,000 employees of the GHADC who have not received salary for the past 19 months are to get only two months’ dues before the beginning of the holiday season from December 21.
“We have received our previous pending royalty and taken an advance of our council royalty in motor vehicle tax from the state so as to be able to pay salaries of staff for at least two months,” said Chief Executive Member Dipul R Marak to The Shillong Times.
According to the GHADC chief, a previous balance of Rs 3.42 crore and an advance of Rs 7 crore from the MV Tax were being credited to the GHADC account from the state treasury. Although the total amount being released stands at Rs 10.42 crore, yet Rs 4.32 crore is required each month to pay the salaries of the over two thousand employees in the GHADC.
“Though two months’ salaries are being released for payment, at the same time we are trying to ensure an additional month’s dues are also given for which we are expecting another two crore fifty lakh rupees from the sale at various haats (weekly markets) although we will still face a shortfall,” said the CEM.
Pressure is mounting on the GHADC over the non-payment of salaries with a Garo group, the A’chik Holistic Awakening Movement (AHAM), led by former GNLA chairman Champion R Sangma, submitting a memorandum to the GHADC chief on Tuesday giving an ultimatum to the council executive committee to clear the pending dues by December 15 or face a hunger strike by the AHAM members outside the CEM’s residence from December 17 onwards.