SHILLONG, March 1: Education Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui on Tuesday assured that the state government would come up with something positive to address the grievances of agitating SSA teachers before March 31.
“The SSA is a very difficult subject. I feel pity that the people have to hit the streets for their right. We are trying to do what is needed to get the installment from the central government,” Rymbui said.
The statement from the Minister comes at a time when the SSA teachers have decided to take out a protest march to the Secretariat demanding the release of their five months’ pending salaries.
Rymbui said Meghalaya is one of the few states to have received the first full installment early. He said after the utilisation certificates were submitted to the Centre, he had visited Delhi last week to pursue the clearance of the second installment.
“The budget (session) is starting on March 4 and I hope something could be done before March 31 regarding pending salaries. The government will try to do something,” the Minister said.
Stating that nothing can be achieved through protest, he reiterated that the government is trying its best to do the maximum possible before March 31.
On whether the government will utilise corpus fund, Rymbui said, “We had drawn over Rs 78 crore in 2019 from the corpus fund to meet the needs of the SSA teachers. We will try to do something positive after this budget session is over.”