Home Guard volunteers in West Jaiñtia Hills district have decided not to go on election duty until the State government clears their pending wages unpaid since 2020 for Covid-19 duty.
Meghalaya will go for polls tentatively in February, 2023.
The volunteers are unhappy with the government and said that they have shown enough patience for two years to secure their rightful dues, but they have been taken advantage of and not recognised for their contribution during the pandemic.
It may be mentioned that about 112 home guard volunteers were deployed during the pandemic at Saphai, Raliang, Amlarem, Phramer, Ummulong and Jowai.
According to the volunteers, they had worked 280 days at Rs 550 per duty and the government has paid only 30 per cent of the wages. The volunteer were engaged from March 27, 2020 to December 31, 2020.
The volunteers had first raised their demand on December 15, 2021, which also led to a minor confrontation with the police, when they had tried to put the office of the Home Guards and Civil Defence office in Jowai, under lock and key.
