The Non Gazetted Employees Association (NGEA) of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) today rejected the offer of Tura MP Agatha Sangma, who had asked the employees to call off their strike and accept the offer of five months’ of salary arrears being offered by the council, which is led by her own party, the National People’s Party (NPP).
The NGEA has been on strike demanding that they be paid all of the arrears, which it claims amounts to 34 months. Yesterday Agatha wrote to NGEA president Senora Johny Arengh to call off the agitation.
“We are thankful to the MP for showing solidarity with us at this time [but] we cannot accept her request of five months’ salary as we are demanding the entire 34 months’ of pending dues,” NGEA joint secretary Flaming Marak said in a press release today. “We have huge loans that need to be paid off and also have families to care for. We also have to clear our children’s school fees and credit that we have taken from shops. The five months’ salary will not be enough as banks will automatically deduct the pending dues and leave us with nothing.”
While rejecting the offer, the association requested the MP to take up the matter with the central and state governments for financial assistance. Flaming also wondered why she had been silent on the issue all this time.
