TURA, June 4: The bone of contention over the unpaid salaries of GHADC employees, which has been casting gloom over the Council for months, has finally found a solution during Friday’s talks between the council authorities and the agitating employees, with the latter agreeing to return to work from Monday.
The employees have agreed to accept five months of salary under the old pay scale, which has been the long-standing proposal of the GHADC Executive Committee.
The council authorities, however, have been given a two-month deadline to set the house in order and ensure timely disbursement of their remaining dues.
The employees are insisting that the rest of the dues are released as per their demand of a revised pay scale.
Revealing the breakthrough after the meeting, CEM Benedic Marak assured the protesters that the new EC is steadfast in its commitment to fulfil its promises and resolve the grievances of the employees. “I have all along been saying that we needed some time to look into the issues and disbursement of pending salaries is our first target. We will try and work out all the issues,” assured Benedic.
The meeting was held between the CEM, his deputy Nikman Ch Marak, church leaders, NGOs and the members of the NGEA.
With a plethora of allegations of corruption and fund misappropriation having surrounded Benedic’s predecessor and some of the previous MDCs, there has been a widespread demand for accountability among the striking employees as well as society in Garo Hills.
Assuring that public scrutiny will not be lost in the din of politics, the new CEM has, meanwhile, said that the local audit, which has been set up to go through the financial accounts of the district council, will do so with each and every department. “The Finance department, which is under my jurisdiction, will be the first to be audited along with the departments of Revenue and Taxation. We will audit each and every department of the district council,” the CEM assured.
There are 17 departments under the GHADC.
Conrad welcomes move
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has welcomed the decision of the agitating GHADC employees to return to work. “The only way to move forward is to work as a team. We are all here together to see the council work and improve and issues are resolved,” he said.
He also revealed that he had met with the leaders of the NGEA and GHADC CEM during his recent visit to Tura. “We had discussed and shared the way forward and expressed to them that there is a new EC now and they want to resolve the issue, so also the NGEA, the society at large and even the state government. We also explained to them that the issues in the district council did not just come up, it’s been building up for a very long time. Therefore, it’ll not be easy to find an immediate solution to all the problems,” said Conrad.
