GUWAHATI, March 18 ? The state government employees today are in dire-straits because of the failure of the Government to pay their salaries regularly even as the week-long ceasefire by the employees demanding regular payment of salaries and wages continued to cripple the functioning of the departments. The employees staged hour-long demonstration in front of their respective offices from 1 pm for the second day today and the Sadau Asom Karmachari Parishad (SAKP) has threatened to intensity the agitation it the salaries and wages are not paid soon.
The SAKP secretary general Sri Charan Deka said that the government has not paid the salaries for the month of February till date and the government even failed to announce the date on which the salaries would be paid. He said that more than 50 per cent of the employees did not receive their salaries for the month of January. In the month of February, the government made payment for only two days on 14th and 15th and only about 48 per cent of employees could get their salaries before the government imposed the ban on payments. He also alleged that the government released payment of the bills against the plan schemes with the revenue collected and at this moment, the state is not in a position to pay the salaries. He also alleged that on one hand, the government is claiming that the salaries could not be paid because of financial crunch, but no effort has been made by the people at the helm of affairs to check misuse of funds.
The SAKP leader said that the present government has totally betrayed the employees. ?The Congress, in its election manifesto claimed that the salaries would be paid on the first day of the month and after assuming office, the Chief Minister claimed that the position would improve in six months. The SAKP adopted a liberal approach, but the government totally betrayed the employees,? he said. Commenting on the condition of the government employees, Sri Deka said that all the employees are finding it hard to survive as even the shop keepers have stopped providing goods on credit. There are instances where employees are unable to go for treatment because of the failure of the government to pay the salaries. He revealed that the employees are not even in a position to pay the newspaper bills and if this condition goes on, it would cripple the economy of the state as a whole.