Shillong, Aug 1: Deputy Chief Minister in-charge of District Council Affairs, Prestone Tynsong, has said the state government may consider assisting the two autonomous district councils- GHADC and JHADC – by releasing advance shares to help them manage their finances and resolve the current crisis arising out of non-payment of the staff salaries.
“There were incidents where we ultimately helped them out by way of releasing advance shares to the ADCs. We used to do that and we keep doing that. So we will see again with the situation that we have seen in both ADCs,” Tynsong told reporters on Friday.
Tynsong advised the three Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) in Meghalaya, including the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC), to minimise unnecessary expenditure to address the recurring issue of salary payment crisis.
The ADCs are autonomous bodies responsible for generating their revenue and managing their finances.
The GHADC employees have not received their salaries for over 42 months.
“You know very well all three ADCs are autonomous, and they are supposed to manage and generate revenue on their own. I am very sure according to that capacity, then appointment or recruitment is decided. Therefore, as far as the three ADCs is concerned be it KHADC, be it JHADC or be it GHADC, I have seen not only this year but in so many years, this issue keeps on happening, sometimes the staff did not get salary 6-7 or 8 months except may be in KHADC otherwise as I said to you it happened in that way only for so many years,” Tynsong said.
“So, we would like to only suggest and advise all three ADCs to also understand how to minimize the unnecessary expenditures”.
“Now, we leave it to the wisdom of the respective ADCs. They also need to manage financially well and understand the crisis that they are facing,” he added.
On the case of alleged misappropriation of Rs 100 crore special assistance grant to GHADC pending before the Meghalaya Lokayukta, Tynsong said it’s too early to comment on the matter, as the audit is still ongoing.
“I think they are the ones who will verify to find out whether misappropriation happened or not. So let us wait till the report is placed,” he said.
Concern over the KHADC inspection in Rani
He expressed concern over KHADC’s recent inspection in the Rani area, which falls within the disputed territory between Meghalaya and Assam.
He said the KHADC should not have inspected without informing the government, especially since the boundary dispute is yet to be resolved.
The Rani area is part of the long-standing border dispute between Meghalaya and Assam. The Joint Regional Committee (JRC) from both states has not yet visited the area, and the boundary demarcation is still pending.
Tynsong stressed that the KHADC’s actions could have escalated tensions in the area.
“That meeting proposed to be held was only to verify whether that particular place belongs to Jirang Syiemship or belongs to the Lyngdohship of Sohiong.
I feel that the mistake made by the KHADC was that, since the boundary of the Hima is still not resolved, I feel the KHADC should not have gone for inspection. They should have called for a meeting within the office itself, discussed and collected all the papers, then Lyngdohship of Sohiong, the Syiem of Nongspung and the Syiem of Jirang can go for joint inspection, I think that must be the way,” he told reporters.
“But with regards to the incident that had happened, thank God from the government side we had clamped section 144 CrPC, otherwise it would have been a different story altogether,” Tynsong added.
Tynsong said talks are ongoing between officials from both states, including the Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police.
