City Correspondent
GUWAHATI, March 31: Nearly 272 junior assistants engaged in the NRC updating process are going to lose their jobs.
The then State government contractually appointed around 391 junior assistants on merit basis for the NRC updating process in 2014-15. Nearly 829 employees engaged on contractual basis for a fixed pay have been working on the NRC and completed more than five years of service in the district and block levels.
The junior assistants working on contractual basis across the State in the NRC updating process received their termination letters from State Coordinator NRC Hitesh Dev Sarma on March 26.
“As the NRC updation project has almost reached the concluding stage, your contract with the office of NRC updation project is no longer required. Therefore your contract with NRC updation project is hereby terminated with effect from April 30 with a notice period of one month from April 1,” the termination letter read.
“We got a shock when we received the termination letters. We engaged our crucial time at the NRC updating process and now we are being removed. When we approached NRC Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma regarding the termination letter, he informed us that the junior assistants were released due to lack of fund. If there is lack of fund then why were only the junior assistants released from the jobs?” argued Arup Khataniar, a junior assistant.
“This is gross injustice being meted out to the employees. Some employees have even crossed the age limits to apply for any other jobs, government or private,” he added.
The employees have urged the authorities concerned to stay the order of termination for the time-being.
“We have requested the authorities to stay our termination till the formation of a new government,” Khataniar added.
“We have been working tirelessly for completion of the NRC. We were apprehensive of our job security when the helpers who were engaged in the NRC updating process were relieved of their jobs by the State government last year. But we are still working with the hope that our jobs will be secured. We are also yet to receive two months’ arrears that are due to us,” said another junior assistant Ranjana Kalita.
