By Trideep Lahkar Guwahati, Dec 17 (PTI) Having failed to pay salary to itsnearly 2,300 employees for the last one year, the North CacharHills Autonomous Council is planning voluntary retirement foraround 1,000 staff to "get rid" of them and has sent a Rs 200-crore proposal to the Assam government for approval.
The North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC), whichcontrols almost all departments in the Dima Hasao districtwith executive power except general administration, police,treasury, election and judiciary, has not paid any salary toits employees since November 2016.
NC Hills Autonomous Council Employees' Union (NCHACEU)and activists have alleged massive corruption and leakage offunds for the situation.
The council, however, has blamed huge non-required hiringby earlier governments for the current situation and sent aproposal for a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for itsemployees to the Assam government for approval.
"When the new administration took charge of the council15 months ago, the salaries were pending for nine months. Theearlier governments hired unnecessarily, giving jobs to theirclose ones and that led to this scenario," NCHAC ChiefExecutive Member (CEM) Debolal Garlosa told PTI.
The council has 2,270 people on its rolls and salarieshave not been not paid since November 2016, he added.
"The monthly salary requirement is Rs 6.3 crore, whileour revenue collection is just around Rs 2 crore. Moreover,when we took charge, the DA was 65 per cent and now it is 109per cent. So, how can we handle? No CEM can handle it unlessthe state or central government helps," Garlosa said.
When asked about the solution to the present crisis, hesaid the only way is to reduce the head count immediately sothat there is minimum accumulation of wages to be paid,besides working to increase the revenue.
"We can function very well with about 1,200 people. So,around 1,000 people are extra and we need to get rid of them.
We have already prepared a VRS proposal and sent it to thestate government for consideration two months ago. We havesought around Rs 200 crore for this," Garlosa said.
The ruling party of the state BJP controls the council aswell. Garlosa alias Daniel Dimasa, a former deputy commander-in-chief of the militant group DHD(J), was made the CEM afterthe surrender of all cadres following a peace process.
The NCHACEU is not aware of the retirement plan.
"The main issue here is fund leakage. There are resourcesto generate revenue, but intentions are lacking. There is hugefinancial mismanagement in the forest department. No leader isgiving any account of their departments," NCHACEU presidentPrasanna Hasnu said.
Of the employees, around 1,000 are lower primary schoolteachers, followed by forest officials, including guards.
"The condition of the employees have become pitiable. Howwill a family sustain if there is no pay for one year? Manyhave become daily labourers, while some are sellingproperties. Corruption has increased manifold as people areforced to take bribe to run families," Hasnu said.
He claimed that the earlier Congress government oftenpaid salaries as 'grant-in-aid' to the council, but this hasstopped after the BJP government came to power in Assam.
"This government is not taking any interest on the issue.
In July, we launched an indefinite strike but there was noresponse. We were instead baton charged. When the thenGovernor Banwarilal Purohit visited the district, we requestedhim to do something. But nothing has happened," Hasnu said.
Assam-based rap band Digital Suicide's lead vocalistDaniel Langthasa has launched a campaign -- Singing For Salaryto highlight the people's plight.
Armed with his guitar, the young musician has beensinging on streets, market places and every possible locationsto create awareness among people about the situation in hishome district and is pressing for immediate payment of thewages.
"The idea behind the campaign is to let people know whatis happening. It is important as employees themselves aregiving up hope," said Langthasa, whose father and NCHACExecutive Member Nindu Langthasa was allegedly killed by DHD(J) rebels in 2007. PTI TRZMN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.