‘Unsafe Kohima’: Chief minister’s office withdraws statement

Blames it on ‘unintentional typo error’ Dimapur, Nov. 19 (EMN): The chief minister’s office (CMO) has ‘retracted’ a statement in which it had blamed “flagrant traffic problems and security related matters” in Kohima for the government’s decision to relocate the Hornbill International Rock Contest to Dimapur this year. The CMO issued a statement on Sunday expressing regret over ‘any inconveniences’ caused by its earlier assertion. “While traffic is always a challenge for such big events in the state capital, it is well managed by the police with active support and cooperation of the citizens of Kohima. “The state government is grateful to all citizens, youth bodies, NGOs particularly APO, AMK, ASU, AYO, KVC and KVYO for helping organize the Hornbill Festival since the last 17 years. The idea to shift the Music Rock Events is primarily on account of the desire and wishes of other districts to be a part of the Hornbill Festival while also intending to give tourists an opportunity to explore other districts of Nagaland,” it stated. The government was planning to organise the music event in other districts “on rotation basis from next year”, it announced. “However, through the content of the press statement, if any inconveniences were caused to any organisation/individuals, the same was unintentionally caused due to typo error (sic) which is deeply regretted. It was never intended to tag the state capital as unsafe or to demean or ignore the sacrifices of any organisation/individual but was rather an attempt to enlighten the general public about the measure taken up by the state government and its plan to shift the Rock Contest events to Dimapur”.