By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Aug 19: The All Meghalaya SSA Non-Teaching Staff Association (AMSSANTSA) is likely to call off its ongoing indefinite sit-in stir if it receives a written assurance from the state government on the demand for a hike in pay of its members.
The members of the AMSSANTSA attended the meeting of the Rationalisation Committee of Salaries for all Samagra Shiksha (non-academic) staff at state, district and block levels which was chaired by Commissioner and Secretary Vijay Kumar Mantri and held at the Secretariat on Monday evening.
After the meeting, AMSSANTSA president Jennifer J Synrem told reporters that this will be the last meeting of the committee.
“We are not a hundred per cent satisfied with the replies and assurance given to us in the meeting. But we will have to accept the proposal of the government on the hike in salary,” Synrem said.
She said they are expected to receive a written assurance from the government by Monday night.
“We are not going to withdraw our protest immediately since we are yet to get the written assurance. We will decide after seeing the assurance in black and white,” she said.
To a query, the AMSSANTSA president said the hike in pay will not be in percentage as the government will decide it as per rationalisation of salaries that was followed for different societies.
Synrem said they have decided against demanding salaries based on percentage as it will cause a huge financial burden on the state government.
Stating that the committee will meet again after the current financial year comes to an end next year, she said it will review the salary structure again after five years.
“We cannot share the details at the moment since the final figure on the salary hike is still being worked out. We expect that it will be done at the earliest,” Synrem added.
More than 1,200 non-teaching staff under the SSA have been staging the indefinite sit-in demonstration at the Madan Malki ground since July 31 after rejecting the state government’s decision to enhance their salary by 25%.
They demanded an 80 per cent hike in pay, an additional 2 per cent hike based on seniority and 5 per cent annual increment.
Protest delays SSA teachers’ salary
The Meghalaya SSA School Association (MSSASA) on Monday expressed disappointment that the release of salaries of its members for the month of July was delayed due to the protest by the AMSSANTSA.
Addressing a press conference, MSSASA president Aristotle Rymbai said they had met State Project Director Swapnil Tembe on August 6 and the latter told them that the delay in the release of salaries was due to the protest being staged by the SSA non-teaching staff.
Stating that the SSA non-teaching staff have every right to protest, Rymbai, however, said the delay in the release of salaries is a violation of Article 21 and Article 300 (a) of the Constitution which clearly state that no citizens have the right to deny the salaries of others.
“We would like to urge the state government to find out ways and means to release the salaries for the month of July,” the MSSASA president said.