SHILLONG, Nov 30: Employees of the Shillong Municipal Board have decided to go ahead with their pen-down strike on Wednesday to demand the implementation of the 5th Pay Commission.
The Shillong Municipal Employees’ Association (SMEA) has turned down a request from Urban Affairs Minister, Sniawbhalang Dhar not to go ahead with their agitation and allow him to raise their demand with Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma who looks after Finance department.
“We will go ahead with the strike since we have already decided. We will again meet tomorrow evening to decide our future course of action,” SMEA general secretary, P Marwein said after meeting Dhar on Tuesday evening.
Marwein also said that SMB employees had moved the High Court over non-payment of the revised salaries as per the 5th Pay Commission.
“The court passed the order in our favour in 2020. Following this, the new pay was disbursed only once in July, 2021. But now they have reverted to the old pay scale,” Marwein said.
Around 600 employees have not been paid their salaries for four months.
North Shillong MLA, Adelbert Nongrum criticised the department for failing to clear the pending salaries and including them under the 5th Pay Commission. “It is the duty of the government to address their grievances,” he said, while asking the government to cut down on wasteful expenditures.
