Unpaid for 43 months, employees of a tribal council in Meghalaya have rejected an offer to settle for five months’ salaries for the time being.
Albinush Marak, the chief executive member of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC), said the council had adequate funds to pay five months’ pending salaries to its employees numbering more than 1,350. The amount includes ₹24.45 crore recently released by the State government headed by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma.
However, the Non-Gazetted Employees’ Association (NGEA) rejected the stopgap offer made by the Executive Committee of the council during a meeting on Monday (August 18, 2025).
Mr. Marak said that the State government would pay GHADC employees directly through the district administration from the current month. Salaries of employees are usually paid by a council, a government within a larger State or federal system.
The council is headed by the National People’s Party, of which the Chief Minister is the national president. Mr. Marak blamed the crisis in the GHADC on the random appointments made without interviews when the Congress party ruled the council almost a decade ago, which increased the number of employees to more than 2,300.
Declining a piecemeal settlement of pending salaries, the association also decided to continue its agitation for their “legitimate demand”. Members of various civil society organisations have backed their agitation and advised the GHADC to plug revenue leakages.
Published – August 19, 2025 06:19 pm IST
