'Acute shortage of functional buildings in administration HQs'

Our Correspondent
Kohima | July 14

There is acute shortage of functional buildings in all the administrative headquarters, according to the report of the District Administration Re-Organization Committee (2008) that was submitted to the Government of Nagaland and tabled on the floor of the House on Monday. The report said that although some new buildings have recently been constructed, maintenance was lacking.

“There is need to construct new buildings in all the headquarters without exception. Also a large number of the old buildings are dilapidated, some of which are beyond repair,” the report said. Approach roads, landscaping, and proper fencing are also required, the report said adding that in particular, for the sake of security and to prevent land encroachment, proper fencing needs to be provided.

Compensation for most of the land has not been paid, the report said adding “as experienced before, no payment of land compensation and lack of proper land acquisition in accordance with the Rules, and lack of maintenance of proper land records such as maps etc. will invite disputes and litigations in future. By all means the procedural lapses need to be rectified and wherever necessary, land compensation will have to be paid”, the report goes on to suggest.

No proper assessment and estimates had so far been made, the report said, however, an estimate has been made based on the information received from the various administrative officers (although not comprehensive). The requirement of funds as per this estimate is as follows: Original works – Rs. 210.75 crore, repair/renovations –Rs. 14.00 crore and internal roads etc – Rs. 63.23 crore. “This estimate takes into account the additional requirement that would arise in case the recommendations are accepted,” the report said. The report also stated that the subsequent annual requirement of funds for maintenance of the built-up assets is estimated at Rs. 13.70 crore.

Also referring to equipment requirement, the report said the administrative headquarters are poorly equipped, adding “no serious efforts had also been undertaken so far to estimate the requirement. This is perhaps due to felt futility for preparing estimates in view of the fact that resources would never be made available.”

The estimate of requirement of equipment and machineries for the district administrative set-up is given at Appendix-VI. According to the estimate, the requirement of funds for various items is as follows: Amount required for additional items – Rs. 10.61 crore and amount required for yearly replacements – Rs. 2.76 crore. The report said that the above estimate takes into account the additional requirement that would arise in case the recommendations are accepted.