SHILLONG: In an intense indictment of the state’s apathy, Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma has warned of an agitation over the staggering 42 months of unpaid salaries to employees of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC), accusing the Conrad Sangma-led government of deliberately attempting to cripple the ADCs into irrelevance.
“This is a very distressing situation, almost a crippling one for the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council,” Dr Sangma told reporters in Shillong, highlighting how hundreds of GHADC employees—unpaid for over three and a half years—have been staging peaceful protests since July 7, with no response from the state or council authorities.
“Do they need the whole people of Garo Hills to come to the street? Then only will they respond? Do they need the MLAs to also join the dharna and the agitation? Well, if the government doesn’t respond on time, we will be compelled to go to the streets, engage in peaceful dharna, peaceful protests, and call on the people to join the agitation. Let us not take things for granted,” he said.
Dr Sangma decried the “quantum of insensitivity” demonstrated by the present regime, asserting that the GHADC salary crisis is not a Garo Hills issue alone but a grim alarm bell for the entire state.
“This problem must not be viewed in isolation—it reflects the complete insensitivity of the state government towards its constitutional responsibilities in empowering the ADCs under the Sixth Schedule,” he said, questioning if the government harbours “a predetermined malafide intention” to cripple the councils into obsolescence.
Pointing to the 2014 Tripartite Text Settlement Agreement signed between the Centre, the Meghalaya government, and the now-disbanded ANVC, Dr Sangma recalled that strengthening the ADCs had been the agreed alternative to a separate statehood demand. “We all agreed there was a felt need to strengthen the ADCs and amend provisions of the Sixth Schedule accordingly. Yet, today, even basic support has vanished.”
He noted that ₹100.71 crore in special assistance was released to GHADC in 2015–16 under his government, marking the first-ever direct central aid to ADCs. “Where is that level of priority now? The Meghalaya State Finance Commission Act, 2012, which clearly lays out the framework for financial devolution to local bodies including ADCs, has been reduced to a forgotten piece of legislation.”
The former Chief Minister further questioned the absence of Panchayati Raj in Meghalaya, arguing that the ADCs are the functional grassroots governance units and must be protected at all costs. “You weaken ADCs, you weaken our traditional institutions, you weaken our people.”
Warning of deeper consequences, he said: “Crippling ADCs amounts to an attempt to weaken the Sixth Schedule. And weakening the Sixth Schedule is an attempt to disempower our people.”
Condemning the government’s silence on the ongoing agitation, Dr Sangma remarked, “Why should there be no response? Is it acceptable? This insensitivity is a reflection of inexplicable irresponsibility. Let the government not push us further. We are prepared to take this fight to the streets.”
He urged the public to rise above political affiliations and recognise the erosion of institutional autonomy. “This cannot and must not be taken lightly,” he concluded.
