Shillong, Sept 4: The Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement has announced that it will soon write to the chief secretary DP Wahlang seeking action on its findings alleging misappropriation of public funds by the Secretariat Administration Department.
“We have compiled our findings and we will accordingly submit the same to the chief secretary for taking necessary action on the matter,” KHNAM working president Thomas Passah told reporters on Thursday.
He also urged legislators to take note of the issue and discuss it in the upcoming Assembly session. According to him, the party aimed to ensure transparency and accountability in government functioning and to expose corruption in the system.
Passah informed that the party filed Right to Information (RTI) requests with the SAD department and found discrepancies in the information provided in relation to the payment of wages to minimum wage workers.
“It appears that there’s an attempt to conceal information, but the fact remains that these workers receive monthly salaries as per minimum wages, with funds sanctioned by the finance department. The glaring discrepancy lies in the fact that despite sanctioning lakhs of rupees for salary payments under the SAD department, the names of these employees cannot be provided. The SAD department’s claim that names are not available raises serious concerns. We strongly suspect misappropriation and misuse of public funds, with a likelihood that funds earmarked for wages are being diverted into the pockets of select individuals,” he alleged.
The KHNAM leader also alleged the SAD department of blatantly violating the Regular Casual Workers Scheme, 1996. Moreover, this non-compliance appears to be widespread across multiple government departments.
“According to the SAD’s response to our RTI query, 60 individuals who joined in 2013 and completed 10 years of service were granted Regular Casual Worker (RCW) status in 2023 and 2025. However, our findings indicate that these 60 employees were appointed through a merit-based examination process and receive fixed pay, which contradicts the definition of casual workers under the RCW Scheme. Furthermore, RCW workers are reportedly receiving lower salaries than non-RCW workers, which is inconsistent with the expected benefits associated with RCW status,” Passah said adding “When we sought clarification, the SAD attributed this discrepancy to a lack of funds. This raises a critical question: if funds are unavailable, why were these employees granted RCW status in the first place?”
“In light of these findings, we will be compiling all our findings. Additionally, we have filed supplementary Right to Information (RTI) requests to further investigate and expose the alleged attempts to monopolize employment and wage payments,” he added further.
