Demands that Nagaland State Government clear pending salaries within May
Kohima, May 2 (MExN): The Nagaland Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Teachers' Association (NSSATA) today demanded the State Government to release the three months’ pending salaries of SSA teachers before the end of May. The SSA teachers in the State have been unpaid from February to April, 2016.
“It is frustrating to bear that the SSA teachers recruited in the year 2010 and 2013 are always made to run from pillar to post to beg for their salaries since 2013 which has became the norm of the State Government,” expressed NSSATA President, Aliba Sangtam and General Secretary, Thungchamo Lotha. “This callous attitude of the Government has an intense and demoralizing effect on the teachers as they are driven to poverty-like situation and yet perform their duty in debt.”
The Association asserted that there can be no quality education in Government schools if some group of teachers are unpaid and suffers throughout the year due to irregular payment. Reiterating that the SSA teachers have been doing their share of work with utmost sincerity and dedication, NSSATA declared the teachers should not be punished for the Government’s failure to do their share of work on time.
The delay in payment, according to NSSATA, is due to the State Government's failure to fulfill the funding patterns on time and withholding the release of State’s share because of which the implementing agency is unable to submit utilization certificate and complete other necessary works. This causes the delay in release of SSA funds by the Central Government, it said.
The SSA teachers further cautioned that if the same trend of delay in payment continues, they will be forced to come out to the streets and demand their rights instead of going to schools. This, it maintained, will bring embarrassment and headache to the Government and the department concerned.
Therefore, it demanded that the State Government should make necessary arrangements to pay the pending salaries by May without waiting for funds from the Central Government.
