Nagaland Post This issue 12 + 4 = 16 Pages @ ` 5.00
www.nagalandpost.com
Vol XXVIII No. 311
Diesel price hiked; wipes out Rs 2.5/ltr cut NEW DELHI, OCT 15 (PTI): Diesel price rose for the 10th consecutive day Monday to wipe out all of the Rs 2.50 per litre cut in rates announced earlier this month through excise duty cut and oil company subsidy. The government had, with effect from October 5, cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre and asked state-owned oil firms to subsidise the fuel by another Re 1 a litre. However, the retail selling price continued to rise on subsequent days. While petrol price remained static Monday, diesel rates were hiked by 8 paise per litre, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. With this, diesel prices have in the last 10 days been hiked by Rs 2.51 per litre.
NH-29 road block cleared
The rocks that had blocked the highway. (NP)
Correspondent
KOHIMA, OCT 15 (NPN): National highway-29 below Japfü Christian College near Kigwema village which was blocked by fallen rocks Monday morning, was cleared by the Border Roads Organization. Police sources said that the rain, for the past few days, may have loosened the soil that resulted in the rocks falling onto the road. Fortunately there was no casualty, police said.
Four-lane road: DC warns of eviction
DIMAPUR, OCT 15 (NPN): Observing that some landowners, who have received full compensation, were yet to clear the Right of Way (ROW) for construction of Dimapur-Kohima fourlane road, the deputy commissioner (DC) Dimapur has directed all those responsible landowners to vacate the obstruction on or before October 31, 2018, failing which forced eviction will be initiated with effect from November 1, 2018. In an order, DC Dimapur, Sushil Kumar Patel, pointed out that the landowners had signed an undertaking at the time of receiving compensation to vacate their lands within 30 days or as and when directed by the authority.
This is it!
“Welcome to Nagaland and its gate tax industry. First the groups, then associations then the cops.” K Y M C
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018 Pages 16 ` 5.00
Strike hits normal life in Manipur
Tribal Brothers, MVYO in semifinals
Donald Trump: Climate change scientists have ‘political agenda’
northeast, Page 4
sports, Page 16
international, Page 13
Pangnyu warns of action against DHD squatters Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, OCT 15 (NPN): Determined to rid District Hospital Dimapur (DHD) of the menace of encroachments which have spelt doom for the expansions, Health and Family Welfare minister S Pangnyu Phom has demanded justification from the previous revenue officer (RO) and district administration as to why pattas were issued to encroachers of plots belonging to DHD without proper verification or inspection of the site. A determined Pangnyu who had issued a stern warning against encroachment and involvement of medical and land revenue staff, told a meeting at DC’s chamber here on Monday, that he would take stern action against those involved and also cautioned the officials present to remain vigilant so that this kind of issues do not recur in future. He alleged that the Dimapur district administration had randomly issued pattas to those who en-
croached upon land belonging to the hospital, without the knowledge or approval from the government or department concerned. Pangnyu said the practice had been going on for the past many years and asserted that this had to be corrected urgently. The hospital being the healthcare hub for Nagas and people from the neighbouring States, he said protecting it was the responsibility of the government and citizens alike. Regretting that those who had obtained pattas were mostly doctors and staff of DHD, Pangnyu warned that the government would take strict action against these encroachers. Damage was done by the previous officials, he added. He also announced that a meeting would be convened with all NGOs led by Naga Council Dimapur (NCD) on the issue of the encroachment. The minister asked the district administration to examine the matter and cancel all illegal pattas with immediate effect and impose a
total moratorium on issuing pattas any more to any individual against the land. He lauded NCD for taking up the issues of illegal encroachers within DHD. Meanwhile, DC Dimapur, Sushil Kumar Patel informed the meeting that the district administration had not issued any pattas for the past two half years without verification of the DC’s office. Regarding issuing of pattas to nine encroachers of DHD land, he said five pattas had been cancelled while further re-verification of papers would be done for the remaining four. And if the laid down process was not followed, then he would cancel them, he added. Patel, however, said if the papers were found to be okay and the rules followed, then these would be forwarded to Home commissioner. The meeting was also attended by CMO Dr Vikato Kinimi, DHD MS Dr Kheshito Zhimo, ADC Dimapur Albert Ezung, revenue officer and senior doctors.
Toll tax issue: DCCI serves 10-day ultimatum
DIMAPUR, OCT 15 (NPN): Chorus against lease system for collecting tolls initiated by Dimapur Muncipal Council (DMC) at the behest of Municipal Affairs Department (MAD) is only getting louder by the day. After it was first red flagged by Hardware Merchants’ Association, Dimapur District and bringing the issue to the fore, several organisations have raised their voices against the new system of collecting tolls. Now, Dimapur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) too has joined the bandwagon and served an ultimatum to the State government to either opt out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime or stop taxes on all items imposed by DMC within 10 days. In the event of the government and MAD failing to take proper step in this regard, the trade body warned of enforcing a shutdown and cease all business activities for an indefinite period till such time the government met its demand. According to DCCI president Akashe Zhimomi, Dimapur had become a haven for taxation and, consequently, the business community was undergoing hardship as it was forced to shell out a huge chunk of its income to pay taxes imposed by various agencies and elements. Pointing out that trade could not
thrive or survive if it becomes a charitable institution by donating and paying everincreasing taxes, he said taxation on the business community had reached all limits of tolerance. In a press release, Akashe said the recent steep hike in prices of hardware materials, especially MS rod, as pointed out by hardware merchants’ body, following introduction of lease system for collecting entry tax by DMC was one such instance and that it should open the eyes of the State government and public. While acknowledging various organisations for raising their voice on the issue on behalf of the business community, the DCCI chief hoped that DMC, MAD and the State government would consider the issue seriously.The trade body asked the State government that as it had opted for GST regime, popularly known as “one nation, one tax” where the entire nation had one tax slab with uniform maximum retail price, how the business community of Nagaland could survive on multiple taxes of the government. It also pointed out that following implementation of GST, tax gates across the county had been closed down, but DMC, with approval of the government, was still trying to collect money through taxes like “item tax” on goods entering Nagaland through Dimapur, which was unheard of anywhere in (Cont’d on p-5) the country.
Commotion outside Higher Edn directorate
ACAUT Nagaland alleges corruption in ‘abandoned’ Doyang bridge project
Correspondent
DIMAPUR, OCT 15 (NPN): Alleging corruption in the incomplete RCC Bridge over Doyang river in Wokha district under Nagaland Foot Hill Road (NFHR) project, ACAUT Nagaland Monday claimed that the executive engineer (R&B) Dimapur division made payments to the contractor to the tune of Rs.18.49 crore (75% of work order amount). ACAUT through its media cell said that Lotha Hoho and ACAUT Unit Wokha carried out physical inspection on September 11, 2019 and found out that only 25-30 percent of the work was complete although the target date of completion and commissioning of the bridge was over by one full year. ACAUT said the executive engineer (R&B) Dimapur division instead of ensuring completion of the work had made payments, which it claimed amounts to fraudulent payment. F u r t h e r, AC AU T claimed that as per the RTI the executive engineer had falsely claimed that 75% of the work has been
KOHIMA, OCT 15 (NPN): A commotion was witnessed outside the directorate of higher education here on Monday following an apparent miscommunication between the directorate and Nagaland University (NU) students on the scholarship issue. T h e N U s t u d e n t s, mostly from third semester, passed-out and a few from first semester, however did not obtain permission from the Kohima district administration to gather for staging protest. One of the students said their intention was to stage a peaceful protest and not to create any commotion. However, as the students began to raise slogans demanding scholarship and hinder flow of traffic, the police were forced to erect barricades on the road side. Claiming that a dealing assistant had provided them soft and hard copies of documents, the students alleged that they also learnt that the department had misused funds amounting to Rs 57 lakh. (Cont’d on p-5)
NagalandArunachal road works begin
KOHIMA, OCT 15 (NPN): Construction works for the first phase of Tizit (Nagaland) to Pumao (Arunachal Pradesh) road under the Inter State Connectivity (ISC) scheme commenced Monday. The road project was sanctioned by Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) for the better connectivity between two states. The construction of the 20km road will be taken up at the cost of Rs. 85 crores in the first phase. The ISC road will pass through five villages Tizit, Sangsa, Longting, Z Tingsa and Zangkham from Mon district Nagaland and connect Pumao in Longding district of Arunachal Pradesh. State transport minister, P Paiwang Konyak, had requested Union minister Nitin Gadkari for construction of road in 2016. (Correspondent)
The incomplete RCC Bridge over Doyang river.
completed. According to ACAUT, the Lotha Hoho informed that the contractor was issued the work order by the chief engineer, PWD (R& B), Nagaland on March 15, 2014 and a revised work order was issued on November 21, 2014 for construction of the RCC Bridge. The work order amount was Rs.24, 52, 20,000 (Rupees twenty four crore fifty two lakhs twenty thousand), it stated. It said the Hoho brought up the matter during the ‘Colloquium on Road Connectivity,’ convened by the Nagaland Gover nment on October 10. At the meeting,
ACAUT said the R&B chief engineer had revealed that the work was abandoned. In this regard, ACAUT has asked the department to clarify the chief engineer’s statement. It also demanded that the state government immediately suspend the responsible EE (R&B) and blacklist the firm. Further, ACAUT demanded that SIT should complete its report and that government initiate befitting action within one month failing which ACAUT along with all aggrieved stakeholders would initiate a sustained plan of action.
Deptt sets target to end nil results in govt schools Correspondent
KOHIMA, OCT 15 (NPN): Advisor for school education, KT Sukhalu, said the School Education department has set a target of ensuring that no government schools in the state produce nil results in the HSLC examinations by 2019. Sukhalu announced this while speaking at the three-day state level workshop for mathematic teachers of GHSS/GHS/GMS organized by directorate of school education at Ura Academy hall here Monday. Admitting that 99 government schools in the state were without maths and science teachers, the advisor said the state government has decided to convert some of teacher posts to maths and science so that all the schools have maths and science teachers. Over the years, he said the department has been
KT Sukhalu speaking at the workshop. (NP)
downgrading the schools due to nil results. He, however, opined that “we as a department have not been able to do justice to the schools as we did not post maths and science teachers to the schools.” Stating that there were excess teachers in some schools while some schools have acute shortage of teachers, the advisor said that before the next academic session begins, the department would carry out rationalisation. Sukhaku, however, stated that till the examinations was over there
would be no transfer and posting of any teacher. He revealed that he had already informed his colleagues and even the cabinet not to send any more chits to him for transfer and posting of teachers. While appreciating the maths and science teachers, he said “our teachers are capable and second to none. We can achieve what others are achieving and we can even do much better than what others are doing.” He advised the teachers to be sincere in their work and motivate and help students overcome the fear of maths and science. In his brief talk on the mathematics module, associate professor SCTE, Dr. Sandip Ratna, said the study conducted by him in the year 2016 on methodology practiced by maths teachers in secondary school of Nagaland reflects that (Cont’d on p-5)
Rio’s 100 days in power sans any achievement: NPF Words, assurances not achievements: Cong tells BJP DIMAPUR, OCT 15 (NPN): NPF has once again trained its guns on the PDA government led by chief minister Neiphiu Rio by accusing him of not being able to fulfil his promises and not meeting various deadlines despite setting them. In a communiqué issued by its press bureau, the opposition party alleged that Rio-led government’s 100 days in power had passed without any major achievement and cited some of his promises to buttress its allegation. According to NPF, the chief minister’s promise to implement a new State sports policy within 100 days had failed to see light of the day. Except for his “sugar-coated bragging before the public every now and then, the latest being at the closing function of NE Zone Inter-State Badminton Championship in Dimapur on Saturday”, nothing concrete had come out till date, it added. The opposition party also termed Rio’s intention to bring all sports associations and federations in the State under Nagaland Olympic Association, where he has been its permanent president since
2003, as a self-seeking initiative for wealth accumulation. “What otherwise explains the massive price escalation of cricket stadium at Sovima from Rs 25 crore to Rs 75 crore, which was executed by his kith and kin in the guise of promoting sports in the State? Even the land initially donated for construction of the stadium by Rio was later compensated at a startling value of Rs 35 per sq ft against the prevailing price of Rs 11 per sq ft in that area then. To top it all, it is learnt that more fund is being allotted for the stadium yet again,” the communiqué stated. NPF stated that construction of Multi-Disciplinary Sports Centre (stadium) in DC Court area in Dimapur, allotted by Rio to one of his close associates and which commenced some 15 years back, remained incomplete till date. It alleged that the plan to set up a Sports University as per PDA government’s Common Minimum Programme released in May 2018 was yet another “wealth-accumulation tactic” of Rio. (Cont’d on p-5)
‘Tides will favour NPF after 2019’
KOHIMA: NPF MLA, Kuzholuzo (Azo) Nienu Monday claimed that the political dynamics of Nagaland would change by 2019 and the tides will be in favour NPF, whether or not BJP comes back to power at the Centre. Azo therefore urged the party workers to remain steadfast and patient. He was speaking at the inaugural programme of the fifteen edition of the Phek Town Inter-Colony Tournament organised by Phek Town Youth Society (PTYS) and hosted him. Azo expressed regret that change had come to the state in a very regrettable and inappropriate way as leaders were not acting as they should be doing so. Taking at dig at the PDA government’s slogan- ‘change is coming’, Azo said PDA has given false hope to the people as developmental activities have come to a standstill, students bot being given their scholarship, no old age pension, teachers salary pending, deplorable road conditions, no effort to restore collapsing bridges connecting towns and villages etc. Further, Azo said PDA legislators were also afraid to face questions in the recent Assembly session, where only limited questions put up by opposition MLAs were admitted. (Cont’d on p-8)
DIMAPUR, OCT 15 (NPN): In a stinging reply to the state BJP unit, the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) Monday asserted that BJP’s role in Naga political peace process was only limited to “words and assurances”, which, it said, were not achievements. NPCC through its media cell alleged that BJP Nagaland and its leaders were “just parroting the words of their high command when it comes to bluffing the Nagas.” NPCC said it, however, expected the BJP state unit chief spokesman, who was a former Congress state youth president, to do better rather than indulge in “unhealthy use of words bereft of decency and distortion of history.” Congress claimed that the state of Nagaland was gifted by the then prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who went out of the way to pass the Nagaland Statehood Bill despite opposition and dissenting voices in the Parliament. “We owe all what we have today to the Congress party and its leaders that gave us the benefit of Statehood and Article 371A where our religion, culture, social practices, land and its resources are protected,” NPCC said. Therefore, the Congress party stated that it alone had the moral right to speak about the history of
Nagaland state. Further, NPCC said that the current peace process was a culmination of Congress’ commitment to the people of Nagaland when former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi announced in Dimapur election rally in May 1991, two days before his tragic death in Sriperumbudur, offering talks with Naga political groups without any pre conditions. “This commitment was fulfilled by the then prime minister Narashima Rao who sent out various political emissaries in contacting leaders of Naga political groups that finally resulted in ceasefire being signed in July 1997 and beginning of peace talks that is continuing till today,” NPCC claimed. During 2014 Lok Sabha elections, NPCC said BJP and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi promised a Naga political solution within 18 months of coming to power. It also said that “much acclaimed Naga Accord/Naga Framework Agreement” signed on Aug 3, 2015 was yet to see the light of the day. NPCC also stated that the Governor of Nagaland in March 2018 “proudly promised” a Naga political solution within six months, but has stretched into eight months without any signs of conclusion. (Cont’d on p-5) K Y M C