Shillong, May 1: The state government today announced a hike in variable dearness allowance, and with it Meghalaya’s minimum wages, as part of several steps to appease agitating muster roll workers.
The Joint Action Committee of the Meghalaya Muster Roll Workers Union has been pushing for a fixed retirement age, pending salaries, variable dearness allowance (VDA) and implementation of the new Labour Codes in Meghalaya.
VDA is an inflation-linked component of minimum wages in India, revised twice yearly (April 1 and October 1) by the central government to offset rising living costs.
In response to the demands of the JAC, the Labour Commissioner convened a formal consultative meeting on April 29 to deliberate upon the issues raised. The meeting was attended by representatives of the JAC.
A revised VDA notification was issued today by the Department of Labour, Employment and Skill Development revising minimum wages with effect from April 1. These rates are inclusive of VDA and shall be revised every six months by adoption of Consumer Price Index (CPI) linked VDA, as per Minimum Wages Act.
“VDA revision was not carried out in October 2025 owing to negative CPI variation,” the Labour Commissioner said in a statement.
The Commissioner also reiterated that Regular Casual Worker (RCW) status for casual workers with 10 years of service is a settled policy and that a four-tier wage framework for casual/muster roll workers has been in place since 2017. He also reiterated that all departments with 20 or more employees fall under Employee Provident Fund rules whether these employees are permanent, casual, muster roll or contractual.
The only matter that the Commissioner could not assuage the muster roll workers on was the issue of enhancing the retirement age of regular casual workers as this matter is pending before the Meghalaya High Court.
