As the salary crisis engulfing the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) crosses 43 months without resolution, Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma has sounded an unmistakable political alarm. Leading a five-member MDC delegation to Raj Bhavan on Friday, Sangma submitted a scathing memorandum to Governor C.H. Vijayashankar, accusing the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) of institutional sabotage, constitutional negligence, and deliberate fiscal strangulation of the Sixth Schedule body.
“Now keeping in mind the level of insensitivity with which the government is dealing with the issue of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council… it is a reflection of their insensitivity, lack of concern and dereliction of duty of the highest level,” Sangma declared, cautioning that if the government does not act, “it will be necessary for us to join the agitation along with the employees of GHADC.”
The sharp political escalation comes after GHADC employees—unpaid for 43 months—have been staging sit-in protests and a pen-down strike since July 7. Despite the intensifying agitation, the state government has remained silent, prompting Sangma to allege that the NPP regime, which controls both the state and GHADC, is weaponizing delay tactics to stifle the constitutional autonomy of tribal institutions.
The memorandum, undersigned by MDCs cutting across party lines, paints a dire picture of the ongoing crisis. It flags the abrupt sine die adjournment of the 14th GHADC Session (July 22–24) as a procedural subversion to suppress debate on urgent public issues, and condemns the absence of a Business Advisory Committee (BAC), which it claims allows the Executive Committee to silence opposition voices arbitrarily.
“This is a prima facie blatant attempt to silence dissent and conceal the glaring failures of the NPP-led Executive Committee on several challenging issues affecting the entire Garo Hills region,” the memorandum stated.
The opposition’s charge-sheet also slammed the government for failing to implement Clause 7.7 of the Tripartite Agreed Text for Settlement, signed in 2014 between the Centre, the Meghalaya Government, and Garo rebel groups ANVC and ANVC-B. The clause mandates the constitution of a State Finance Commission, essential for ensuring equitable fund allocation to autonomous district councils. More than a decade later, the clause remains in cold storage, despite being codified under the Meghalaya State Finance Commission Act, 2012—ironically passed during Sangma’s tenure as CM.
“We urge Your Excellency to direct the State Government for the constitution of the overdue State Finance Commission… to ensure fiscal justice and permanently alleviate the financial distress of our prestigious GHADC,” the MDCs appealed in the memorandum.
The delegation also pressed for immediate gubernatorial intervention to expedite the clearance and enactment of the Codified Garo Customary Law, which, despite being passed in the GHADC House, remains buried within the corridors of the District Council Affairs department in the state government.
“In absence of a codified framework, legal uncertainty is rising—particularly in village courts, Nokma courts, and District Council Courts,” the memorandum warned. The MDCs urged the Governor to ensure the Garo Customary Law be notified within eight months, failing which it will lapse, dealing a severe blow to the tribal legal framework.
Dr. Mukul Sangma’s direct challenge to the NPP is not merely a call for administrative accountability—it is a political confrontation with high constitutional stakes. He accused the NPP-led dispensation of chronic neglect, fiscal mismanagement, and betrayal of tribal mandates, asserting that if the government refuses to uphold its responsibilities, the opposition will not hesitate to take the fight to the streets.
With pressure mounting from all sides and Raj Bhavan now directly petitioned, the GHADC crisis has become the new flashpoint in Meghalaya politics—threatening to erupt into a full-blown agitation, and possibly a political reckoning for the ruling regime.
