‘Salaries to be partially cleared by Christmas’

SHILLONG, Dec 15: Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong has assured that the pending salaries of employees of some undertakings would be “partially” cleared by Christmas.
Employees of the Shillong Municipal Board, Garo Hills Autonomous District Council and MeECL, besides SSA teachers, have not been paid their salaries for some months now.
“We are trying our best to clear their salaries and they should be able to get their salaries, partially if not fully, by Christmas,” Tynsong said.
He stated that undertakings like SMB and GHADC are not directly under the government and hence the responsibility of clearing pending salaries of employees does not lie entirely with the state government.
Tynsong said that “even MeECL is a corporation which is not directly controlled and supervised by the state government.”
Miffed at the unremitting financial crisis of the undertakings, Tynsong said that a change in their approach and way of functioning was imperative. “They need to learn to sustain themselves and generate revenue to pay salaries (regularly) while giving their best service to the state. They cannot just wait for the government to intervene every time. How many times will the government bail them out? It is difficult for the government to do so every time,” the deputy chief minister said.
He said that while the undertakings continued to be in crisis, the government could only rescue them temporarily.
“But for a permanent solution, they need to change their thinking and style of functioning. Otherwise, the problem will continue,” Tynsong said.
To a query on the financial condition of the state, the deputy chief minister said “it is manageable”.