Tura, Oct 6: Employees of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) under the aegis of the Non Gazetted Employees Association (NGEA) have decided to go on protest over the non-payment of salaries for what has now become 31 months.
The decision comes in the wake of non-fulfillment of promises made on Sep 18 by the CEM, Albinush Marak, who had personally gone to a protest meeting of the employees assuring them of paying at least 2 months’ salary within the same week. This assurance, as per the NGEA members, has gone down the drain leaving them with no other option than to go on a protest.
“We will begin with a 3-day sit-in demonstration from Oct 10 following which we will decide the next protest. This time we will not rest until our assurances are brought to fruition. Our protest will only intensify in the coming days,” informed president of NGEA, Brithen Sangma.
Sangma along with other members of the NGEA came down heavily on what has been transpiring in the GHADC.
“The kind of problems we are facing are just unbelievable. We cannot feed our families without money. Neither can our children study if we don’t pay their school dues. With the salaries that we are supposed to get at least these would have been taken care of but alas there is no one to care about us,” added secretary, Jill Momin.
With the year almost about to end and schools at the end of their session, the pressure on employees has gone through the roof. Reliving the same nightmares for close to a decade is something that is keeping them up all night.
What is interesting to note in the entire fracas is the fact that while most employees have not been paid, about 20% have been paid their salaries. While no one is really talking about the reason for this favoritism, many have speculated that this may be a sign of a policy that aims to divide the employees.
When asked, the NGEA members stated that they were unaware as to why salary payments were still due as revenue from the GHADC’s own sources were providing enough cover at least 70% of the money required to cover salaries. The employees have been paid only 2 months salaries for the past 10 months this year.
The NGEA stated that they were hopeful of getting at least 2 months salaries after the promise of the CEM but were left disappointed after more than 3 weeks have passed since the assurance without it being fulfilled.
“We want to appeal to the authorities to understand our situation and pay us our salaries. We are not only not getting paid but we also have had no increase in our salaries since so many years. We are being paid salaries based on the 4th Pay commission while state employees are enjoying much larger benefits,” added another member, Sengman Momin.
For now the employees have decided that they will begin their 3 day protest on Tuesday. However they added that if not given their due, they will intensify their stir in the coming days.
“We are working on what to do next if our demand for payment of our salary is not met. We have no option but to continue our struggle for our salaries through protests as it would otherwise mean deprivation for our families. How long can we last like this without food on our tables? Seriously our bank balances are nil,” asked Brithen.