Legislator’s voyage across ‘post-apocalypse’ Nagaland throws up more skinnies

EMN
Dimapur, September 14

It is visual saga straight out of WW 2: ancient skeletal frames of what used to be buildings, offices worn out by soot, rust and neglect, ancient equipments and offices that have not seen civilized paint or windows in decades.
Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Public Relation Khekaho Assumi has been visiting offices of his charge, the department of Information & Publicity, in the districts and subdivisions for several months now. And indications are that he is not too amused at the eyesores and stories of neglect that he has been encountering so far.
The politician was in Mokokchung’s Mangkolemba sub division and Alongkima and Suruhuto in Zunheboto district during the past week ‘to acquire all information about the functioning of IPR offices.’
. During his visit to Mangkolemba’s Information Office on September 10, he assured employees “all necessary equipments required in the office.”
Interacting with the staffers of the office, Assumi reminded them that IPR department was the ‘most important department as all sections of people in the state are made aware of the government activities through IPR department,.’ He urged them to be ‘more sincere in disseminating their duties.’
Likewise, Assumi went to Alongkima Information Assistant Office on the same day. Indeed, he was dismayed at the deplorable structure of the office which has been abandoned for many years. As if things weren’t already bad enough, there was shortage of staffers and infrastructure for the area.
In his interaction with the staffers and villagers outside the abandoned office, Assumi assured to “revive the office” and to provide all necessary equipments including public address systems as required.
Reminding them that it was high time that ‘we all work together as a team to make a difference in the department,’ he said “together we will bring something out of nothing.”
He said to be visiting 38 information and publicity offices in the state under the department. The legislator said “I need to get first hand information of the functioning and the grievances of the officers and staffs so that I will get down to serious business for the betterment of the department.”
Besides Mokokchung, the parliamentary secretary also visited the district IPR office in Zunheboto on September 11 and interacted with the staffers. The legislator assured to modernize public address equipments at the earliest. He encouraged the employees to ‘share their grievances’ so that he would ‘look into wherever is possible.’ Discussions about constructing a new office building were also undertaken during a meeting.
The politician advised the employees to be sincere and be mindful of their responsibilities and duties. Saying that he was no ‘magician to restructure the entire system by himself,’ Assumi called upon every employee to have work as a team ‘to uplift the IPR department to a higher level.’
District officer Lanuakum Ao was appreciative that the parliamentary secretary was the first parliamentary secretary to have visited the DPRO office of Zunheboto. He hoped that Assumi would bring ‘winds of change’ in the department.
Assumi also visited the Information Assistant centre in Suruhuto sub-division, under Zunheboto district on September 10. Interacting with the staffers and acknowledging their problems and grievances the parliamentary secretary assured to look into their ‘urgent needs for smooth functioning of the office.’ He encouraged the employees to be sincere in performing their duties ‘since IPR plays a greater role in serving the people.’
The only parliamentary secretary for IPR to have visited Suruhuto sub-division so far, the staffers are said to have appreciated his concern.
Earlier this year in August, Assumi found himself in a virtual kitchen when he visited Wokha district’s IPR office.
Government buildings and infrastructure in Nagaland are not world famous for being usable for any use other than to offer free eyesore. But the case of Wokha district’s Information and Public Relations’ office not only took the cake but ate it too.
During his visit to the office of Wokha IPR, the parliamentary secretary was captivated–apparently–by the deplorable, grimy, greased, flaky, and soot-covered and plank-ridden ancient structure disguised as a government office. He assured to do his bit–not necessarily in terms of infrastructure to lift the office get to its knees–but in terms of equipments and information peripherals.