Dimapur, June 11 : The government is asked to intervene with resolution to the pen down strike by workers of the District Rural Development Agencies (DRDA) of the Rural Development Department. The agencies are on strike demanding that the government release their salaries, reported to be pending for one year.
The Nagaland State Village Development Board Association (NSVDBA) issued a press release on Saturday to “fervently appeal to the government of Nagaland to intervene in the current crisis by relieving the salaries in the department of Rural Development where the 11 DRDAs in the districts are on a pen down strike from 8th June 2016 due to non-payment of their salaries for the last 12 months.”
The pen down strike called by the DRDA employees in all the districts in Nagaland, the association said, has caused “immense harm to the poor villagers in Nagaland as whatever development that are seen today are the yielding of the dedicated services rendered by the able officers and staffs of the department of Rural Development…” The association felt that they should not be deprived of their ‘legitimate share.’
The NSVDBA has appealed to the authorities in concern to release the salaries of the DRDA employees at the earliest “so as to enable them to resume their assigned duties and work for the welfare of the rural population.”
Likewise, the Zunheboto District VDB Association has said that the DRDA staffers are refusing to ‘entertain any VDB-related work due to pen down strike,’ A note from then Zunheboto unit of the VDB association on Saturday stated that the agitation was “directly effecting rural people and its hamper normal work of VDB schemes both state and centrally sponsored scheme.”
‘Therefore, the ZDVDBA urges the state government to take mater positively and release the DRDA staffers ‘salaries at the earliest,’ the note added.
