Tura, Sept 27: The striking employees of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council have on Friday announced their decision to suspend their ongoing protest of almost three months and return to their work stations.
The employees, under the aegis of Non Gazetted Employees Association, have also decided to accept the council authorities decision to release the first phase of 12 months salary disbursement.
The workforce of several hundred employees haven’t been paid salaries for almost 45 months resulting in an indefinite strike that touched 2 months twenty days.
A direction from the Meghalaya High Court ordering the striking employees to shift their protest from outside the premises of the GHADC headquarters elsewhere to avoid hinderance to office work is believed to be one of the main reasons for the decision by the protestors to suspend the strike.
Head of the protesting body and president of NGEA Brithan Sangma announced the decision to lift the strike on Friday. But the employees body also placed a caveat, warning that the staff would return to protests if the council authorities harass any of their members and fail to keep its promise of clearing all dues in a phased manner.