The Association for Democracy and Empowerment (ADE) has urged the Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to quickly intervene in the crisis that is currently taking place in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) and address the issue as soon as possible.
In a separate release, the Niksamso A’chik Society (NAS) also appealed to Sangma to resolve the “chaos” in the GHADC.
In a letter to the CM today, ADE expressed sadness at the current situation where employees of the GHADC have been on an agitation for over four months now seeking the release of their 34 months of pending salaries.
“It is needless to say how much the family of the GHADC employees are suffering due to the breadwinner not being paid. We stand with the cause of the employees and demand the employees be paid in the Fifth Pay Commission scale as has been promised to them,” said general secretary of ADE, Supam R Marak.
The NGO added that it understood the hardships faced by the employees and stood by their cause.
ADE further stated that with the COVID situation and development and businesses coming to a standstill, the only way forward was to act together.
“We must unite and offer as much help as we can to our citizens and not by holding back their salaries. The standoff between the NGEA (Non Gazetted Employees Association) and the GHADC authorities needs to end,” added Supam.
The NGO once again appealed to the CM, Conrad Sangma to look into the matter and take necessary measures to mitigate the crisis in the Council before it escalates further.
Meanwhile, general secretary of NAS, Tengrak R Marak, said that the Chief Minister was available enough to campaign for votes and lobby for support for the National People’s Party (NPP) among independent MDCs and should now be available also to sort out the mess in the council.
“We are standing not only with the employees but we are also standing to preserve Garos’ identity, values and culture. We strongly appeal to Conrad Sangma to clear the 34 months of salaries of the GHADC employees at the earliest,” Tengrak said.
