Dept assures salary at ‘earliest’ as DRDAs ‘indefinite’ lockdown begins

The locked District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) offices  at Kohima (top), Mokokchung (bottom right) and Kiphire as the employees start ‘indefinite period’ shutdown  of offices on September 7. 

Morung Express News 
Kohima | September 7 

The Principal Secretary, Rural Development today assured salaries to agitating employees of  District Rural Development Agency (DRDA)  at the earliest, even as the former started an “indefinite period” shutdown  of 11 DRDA offices on September 7. 

The Principal Secretary informed that the Finance Department has already released the amount of the pending salary upto the month of July. 

The amount will be withdrawn next week from the Treasury department after fulfillment of required formalities and will be disbursed at the earliest, he said.

The aggrieved employees, however, were not convinced with the RD officials’ request to call-off the agitation, and went ahead the shutdown.   

The employees maintained that they will not call off the strike until their charter of demands - “immediate release of pending salary” and “monthly payment of salary henceforth” by coming up with a permanent solution,  are not fulfilled. 

“Even if assurances are given in words, deliberation and outcome has to take place in paper,” a Project officer informed the media here in Kohima. 

'Once our demands are fulfilled, we will call off the strike and enable DRDAs to function effectively,' the PO added. 
“We are not against the government or the department, we are only demanding for what we are entitled to get,” another district officer asserted. 

The officer also said that all DRDAs have informed respective district administration on the shutdown. 

With some DRDA offices having other offices attached to their buildings or attached with other offices, alternative arrangements are being made. 

For instance, the Aadhaar correction and application office in Kohima which is DRDA building  has been relocated for the time being following lockdown of the gate. 

The smooth functioning of the DRDA offices, the principal organ at the district level to oversee all programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development, are crucial for timely implementation of both central and state government’s schemes.  As such programmes like the MGNREGA, PMAY (Gramin), NRSLM, State VDB grand-in-aid among others will be affected and subsequently, there are apprehension that funding may come to a standstill. All other transactions have come to a halt as a result of shutdown of the Management Information System (MIS). 

The Principal Secretary, meanwhile, expressed dissatisfaction over the DRDAs stating that their demand was to release pending salary which will be met soon. 

Another reason of delay in salary was due to mismanagement of funds in some DRDAs, he added.