KOHIMA, MARCH 8 (MExN): The Department of School Education has requested the SSA teachers to call off their proposed agitation, “considering the efforts that have been put in by the Government as it is just a matter of time that the pending salary will be released.”
Commissioner and Secretary, T Imkonglemba Ao, in a press note, stated that the hardships faced by the teachers, owing to non-payment of their salary, “is genuinely empathized with” and that fund received under SSA or the other flagship programs has “never been diverted.” He asserted that due priority has been given by the Nagaland Government for meeting the salary requirement, including the release of the State Matching Share for the program, which is 10% of the total outlay.
He further informed that the entire SSA Mission Team led by the Commissioner and Secretary (Designate) is currently camped at Delhi for the purpose of pursuing fund release by the Government of India, and therefore “release of the unpaid salary will be done as and when fund is made available.”
Regarding the possibilities of finding “ways and means” to release salary through the State’s own resources and to have it refunded at a later stage, as pointed out by the associations, he said that this would “not be judicious in the end of the financial year.”
On the issue of inability of the appointing authority to make regular or timely payment of salary to its employees, the department clarified that the SSA teachers were appointed as per the mandated requirements of the RTE Act, with the understanding that salary for such appointments would be funded by the Government of India through its flagship programs. It also pointed out that “there are other states facing the same problems like our state.”
In his statement the Commissioner informed the SSA teachers that, “it is the prerogative of the State Government on how their appointment is to be treated since they were appointed under the SSA program and as such, the mode of payment of their salary, whether Plan or Non-Plan, will be decided by the State Government.”
He further clarified that salary for SSA employees have been released till the month of November 2013, and not as stated. Controlling officers have are therefore been directed to take up the matter with their respective Treasuries.
