SHILLONG, Nov 21: As dissent running within SSA teachers over the non-release of their pending salaries, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has revealed that the state government has received some financial support from the Centre to clear the pending salaries of the SSA teachers in the state and that paper work is under way.
“We are now doing the necessary paperwork,” Conrad told reporters here.
Informing that they had again raised this issue with Union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, on Sunday, the chief minister said that the Union minister has assured to lend his support in releasing funds to pay the salaries of SSA teachers in the state.
He reiterated that SSA is a programme where 90 percent of the funds come from the Centre’s end and the remaining is contributed by the state government.
“Therefore it is not possible for the state government to make up for that amount from our state budget until and unless we get funds from the Centre. It will be difficult to pay the salaries of the SSA teachers but we are continuously following up. And even today, the Union Education minister has assured full support from the Centre to the state government,” the CM said.
Earlier, the Centre had released Rs 59 crore to the state government for disbursing salary to the SSA teachers.
Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui, who returned from New Delhi last week, had said the state government sought Rs 140 crore to pay the salaries of the SSA teachers. But the Centre released less than half the amount, he had said, adding that the remaining Rs 59 crore would be cleared by next week.