Meghalaya Education Minister hopeful on release of SSA funds for payment of salaries

SHILLONG:

Meghalaya Education Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui on December 14 informed that the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) teachers have not received their salaries since August this year even as the Centre is yet to release the funds for payment of salaries.

“We have sent a letter to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) for the release of the funds. None of the States in the country have received the funds. We hope that the Centre will release the funds in the coming days to allow the department to pay the salaries of the SSA teachers before Christmas,” Rymbui said.

When asked the reason for the delay in the payment of salaries, he responded that he is not aware since the Centre has not released even the first instalments.

“The Centre approved the project appraisal submitted by the State Government in March or April this year,” he said.

Meghalaya Education Minister, however, informed that he is thankful to the Chief Minister for sanctioning an amount of ₹ 79 crore as corpus fund to meet the exigency adding that the fund has already been disbursed to the teachers three months back.

“The funds which were earmarked as a corpus fund will be deducted once the Centre releases the funds,” Rymbui said.

He also stated that the delay in the release of funds by the Centre has also affected other activities under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.

(Edited by Laxmi Chyrmang)

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