TURA, May 25: Striking employees and the authorities of GHADC engaged in a bitter tussle after orders were given out by the new Chief Executive Member (CEM)Benedic R Marak for offices to open and staff to return to work to prepare pay bills for disbursement of five months salaries of the staff.
As soon as word reached the protesting employees, who have been on strike for four long months over non-payment of 34 months of salary, dozens of angry men and women staff arrived on the scene and tried to force their way in to block the opening attempt.
They were met with a strong police presence in riot gear, who had to push them back to the periphery.
The situation became more tensed after some of the employees from the protesting group broke ranks with the agitation and crossed over heeding the call to return to work.
A few stones were also pelted during the melee but there was no damage.
Threats of assault were made by the angry protesters against those employees who joined duty.
The Council CEM appealed to the staff to return to duty saying no solution can come about with the strike which has been going on for so long.
He said that pay bills are required to be cleared for disbursement of five months of salary and for which office is required to function.
Despite a curfew due to rising COVID cases in Garo Hills, a special permission was given to the GHADC authorities to open office for preparation of salary disbursement.
The leaders of the Non Gazetted Employees Association (NGEA) have accused those staff who joined work as betrayers.
“They are former leaders of NGEA and violated a decision taken unitedly by all of us to stand together to achieve what is rightly ours,” said NGEA secretary Brithen Marak.
The striking employees have reiterated that they will not accept the five months’ salary which is being prepared for them under the old scale of pay.
The NGEA members are demanding nothing short of one year of dues under the revised pay scale, as promised to them earlier.
Congress MDCs rally against Councill EC
The entire lot of eleven Congress MDCs in the GHADC on Tuesday urged the executive committee led by CEM Benedic R Marak to release the pending salaries of the employees as per the 5th Pay Commission, even as they alleged the diversion of funds besides other anomalies in the Council.
In a memorandum submitted jointly to CEM Benedic R Marak, the MDCs pointed out that the then executive committee had approved and passed a resolution to release the salaries as per the revised scale and urged the new EC to initiate measures to do the same.
“We urge you to negotiate with the chief minister and take the decision to clear the pending salaries of the employees as early as possible,” the MDCs said.
The MDCs also said it was brought to their knowledge that an attempt was being made to divert the tied grants of the 15th Finance Commission, an amount of Rs 91 crore meant for the GHADC, to the Jal Jeevan Mission.
“The GHADC has its own implementing department for water supply and sanitation and the same has been functioning in the preceding years. As per the Finance Commission guidelines, rural local bodies should be the implementing agencies of these funds and we disapprove the move to divert the same. We urged you to take up the matter with the Chief Minister to release the funds meant for the GHADC,” the MDCs said in their memorandum.
Reacting to the recent public advertisement of the MBDA inviting proposals from eligible entries for Design, Development and Maintenance of Information and Communication Technology services for the Taxation department which is funded by JICA, the MDCs said, “Why are such projects being outsourced to outside agencies? We want to know whether any agreement was made in black and white before allowing foreign agencies outside the purview and jurisdiction of the GHADC”.
Stating that such moves intrude into the autonomy of the district council and defeat the very meaning of autonomous council, the MDCs demanded that the EC recall all advertisements and revoke all agreements made by the previous EC.
