Governor raps govt. on corruption

Our Correspondent Kohima, Sep. 18 (EMN): Governor PB Acharya today candidly said corruption is the biggest disease that is afflicting the state of Nagaland. Addressing a press conference at the Raj Bhavan, the governor expressed his concern on reports of corruption cases in the state while observing there is a dormant energy in its citizens and a trust deficiency amongst political leaders. He said the time has come for all the civil societies and political parties to prepare for the outcome of the (Indo-Naga) peace process. Asserting that ‘peace is coming’, Acharya said, along with peace, development will come. However, he maintained that this development of Nagaland will not come from others but through the Nagas themselves. Towards this, he appealed to the ‘Christian leaders’ of the state to rise to the occasion. The governor also expressed his dismay over learning about the double drawal of fund for a single project regarding construction of hostels for scheduled tribe boys and girls across the state, which was recently highlighted by a public rights awareness group. He told reporters that he has already written to the Chief Minister TR Zeliang regarding this matter, to immediately take action and punish the culprits. He also informed that he had on earlier occasion also wrote to the chief minister on the issue of corruption including the multi-crore Income Tax department case against a state police consultant and retired ASP MKR Pillai. On the issue of the removal of “unconstitutional” posts of parliamentary secretaries and advisors being pushed by the Nagaland Tribes Council (NTC), while he feels that the Supreme Court judgment should be taken into account, the governor said the matter was currently in the Gauhati High Court and he would only act on the judgment of the court as he had during the recent change in leadership. He said that he was in constant consultation with the Advocate General and that he had also written to the chief minister regarding the matter. 60 MLAs, 2 MPs asked to produce report on SAGY Governor PB Acharya has also asked the 60 MLAs of the Nagaland Assembly and the MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to bring out their report cards on the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY), under which the elected members are supposed to adopt at least one village for development including social and cultural development and spread motivation among the people on social mobilization of the village community. The programme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. Governor stated that he had appealed to all the 60 MLAs and two MPs to implement the Yojana on several occasions, however, till today, he had only heard about Lok Sabha MP Neiphiu Rio adopting one village under Dimapur and another in Mon district. Towards this, he “politely requests” the MLAs and MPs to bring out a report on the villages they have adopted and the subsequent development that has been done in those villages during their tenure as elected representatives. When asked about his view on the current stalemate between former chief minister Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu and incumbent chief minister TR Zeliang and MP Rio, Acharya said it was an internal party matter and he has nothing to comment on. Meanwhile, the governor emphasized on utilizing dormant energies to monitor the implementation of all the central and state projects and schemes. Elaborating that there are numerous grievances from the public regarding proper implementation of programmes, he said there is much potential in student leaders, university students, ex-servicemen, Red Cross and Bharat Scouts and Guides personnel to act as ambassadors of social service and ensure that every welfare project is reaching the targeted beneficiaries. He also informed about getting instructions from the Home Minister Rajnath Singh about conducting Swachhta Hi Sewa, a cleanliness campaign from September 15 to October 2 as a target to be achieved by Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary which is in 2019. He said a nationwide mass mobilization drive to accelerate ODF progress in villages will also be launched as part of the campaign towards reaching the spirit of ‘jan andolan’. The governor also informed about a student exchange programme through which, a group of 8 girl students of Kohima College Kohima recenty visited Mumbai from September 9-16th. The visiting team, hosted by Sathaye College under Mumbai University, was stated to have undergone a mix of workshops including soft skills and field visits. A letter from the college stated that while the visit was an exposure to the Kohima team, Sathaye College also gained much from the exchange programme including knowledge about Nagaland, its people and rich culture.