TURA, June 29 � Several hundred employees working in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) here, have not received their salaries for close to five months. The last payment to employees was in January, this year.
The employees� association of the Council, peeved with the handling of the financial situation in the Council, has threatened to go on an agitational path if their dues are not cleared upto date by July 1.
The employees have time and again pressed upon the then Executive Committee led by PK Sangma of the NCP to clear their monthly dues but to no avail. Following the collapse of the NCP-led executive committee and the subsequent imposition of Administrator�s rule by the Deputy Commissioner, the employees association is once again calling for the release of their monthly dues.
The employees have chalked out a general strike on July 6 and 7 unless they are paid their monthly dues.
If the strike goes ahead, it would hamper the smooth functioning of the village courts and several other departments. A majority of the people receive their water supply from the Council pipes. The issuing of trading licences for non-tribal traders is through the Council which also prepares land documents, such as pattas, for the citizens of Garo Hills.
Many see the repeated empty coffers of the Council as a sign of financial mismanagement by the elected representatives. Successive executive committees representing the two major political parties in the State � the Congress and NCP, have failed to turn the financial situation around.
