Village Guards seek pay at par with Home Guards’ wages

‘Too meagre, too little,’ says verdict

Kohima Bureau
Kohima, Nov. 23: The Village Guards of Nagaland have appealed to the Nagaland government to implement minimum wages equivalent to the Nagaland Home Guards’ wages, in accordance with the final court verdict passed by the Guwahati High Court order on Nov. 13 2017.
The Village Guards consist of 9,579 personnel from the districts of Mon, Tuensang, Longleng, Kiphire and Meluri under Phek.
The verdict reads: “Viewing from all angles nobody will deny that the VGs existing wages and allowance is too meagre and too little. Therefore, the state government should examine and raised the same to a reasonable level but not less than that of the home guard of the state.
“Since VGs have waited for such a day for too long a time, the exercise should be completed within a period of two months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. Such increase in the wages and allowance should be made effective from 01.01.2017 since they have suffered for so long.”
Addressing a press conference at Hotel Evergreen, TA Ngamlao, president of the Village Guard Association of Nagaland (VGAN) said that the association had approached the chief secretary and the state government for enhancement of the salary.
The Village Guards were doing extensive duty along with paramilitary forces across the international border at Myanmar and state border with Manipur, it was informed. However, the Nagaland government has failed to note the service for which the guards decided to file a writ petition before the court.
Tiny salary, ancient arms
Ngamlao said that the guards are unable to look after their families with just a monthly salary of Rs. 1500. Further, the association has informed that the arms used by them are outdated—they were used during the time of the British and have not been replaced since then.
The association has appealed to the state government to replace their firearms to ensure higher security.
The association has appealed to the Nagaland government to implement and enhance their salaries in accordance with the court’s directives at the earliest.
Taka Masa Ao, senior advocate and legal advisor to the VGAN said that the village guards were surviving on a mere salary of Rs 1500 per month and Rs 25 for special duty. He said that the association had filed a writ petition with the Guwahati High Court seeking enhancement of salary, on April 1 2017. The court gave the final judgment on Nov. 9 2017 and that the personnel should be paid equal pay for their work.
The legal advisor said that the guards have been ‘exploited’ and had ‘suffered for too long.’ With the new judgement, he said, the court has directed the state government to enhance the salary through the minimum wages act of Rs 500 per demand and not less than the monthly salary of the Home Guards with effect from Jan. 1 2017.
The advocate added that the judgment given to the VGAN was a landmark judgement.