SHILLONG, NOV 4: Administrative works in the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) came to standstill on Monday following the start of the indefinite cease work staged by its non-teaching staff to protest against the unprecedented delay in the promotion and recruitment process for the post(s) that were advertised on November 3, 2023.

Speaking to media persons, president of the NEHU Non-Teaching Staff Association (NEHUNSA) Dr WR Synrem said that the association has been compelled to stage the indefinite protest due to the fact that the strength of the non-teaching staff in both Shillong and Tura campuses has gone down tremendously.

He said that as per the University Grants Commission (UGC) norms, the ratio should be 1:1.1 which means the strength of the non-teaching staff should be at 512.

“Unfortunately, our present strength is around 250 including Tura campus and this year around 50 plus non-teaching staff have retired. Next year also, it (staff retiring) will be around the same number. So if recruitment doesn’t happen, we fear who will work in the university and how the university will function, especially non-teaching staff who are dealing with teachers and students so everything will get affected if the non-teaching staff are not there,” Dr Synrem stated.

“Therefore, we have decided to continue with our indefinite agitation till the authority gives us a proper answer as to when they are going to hold the recruitment process,” he added.

Asked, the president of the association said that as per reports, the authority will invite the association for discussion by tomorrow.

“We hope it will be a fruitful discussion as we also do not want people to suffer as people will suffer once we are on strike but we are forced to use this for the survival of the university,” he said.

Earlier, the National Testing Agency was supposed to conduct the examination for the recruitment process but unfortunately NEHU received a letter from them expressing that they are not in a position to conduct the same.

Accordingly, the NEHU has called for expression of interest and it was expected that some agency will conduct the examination for the job recruitment since the advertisement will soon lapse until and unless the ministry concerned grants some extension of time.

“In September, we had also gone for a small agitation. However, after discussion with the authority, they assured us that they are going ahead with the recruitment and that by the end of September, they will come out with the syllabus and the date for written examination. But despite expecting that by October 30, the syllabus and date will come out, unfortunately nothing positive came out. Accordingly, we called for the general body meeting and it was unanimously decided that we cannot no longer wait in view of the decreasing strength of the staff in the university,” he said.

When asked about the demands made by the NEHUTA and NEHUSU, Dr Synrem said, “We are not totally part of it but we have given our letter of support to the issues raised by them and beyond that no comment.”

On the style of functioning of the incumbent vice chancellor, the president of the association said, “As the head of the institution, he (VC) is expected to be in station but time and again he is out of station. We have talked with him but he said he has invitations from here and there he has to attend programmes and all and that has affected to a great extent.”

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