Our Correspondent
Kohima | July 26
Opposition Congress today walked out from the Nagaland assembly session as a mark of protest and disapproval of the performance of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland government. The Opposition Congress members walked out from the session after the general discussions on the budget, boycotting the government’s reply and other proceedings of the session as a mark of dissatisfaction with the performance of the government.
Congress MLA C. Apok Jamir said that the DAN government had failed to fulfill the expectations of the people, which he said was reflected in the budget presented in the floor of the House.
He said Opposition members were not satisfied at all with the performance of the ministers and parliamentary secretaries. They were not prepared well and failed to give suitable replies to the questions raised by the Congress in the assembly session, he said. Their answers were in mistakes and ‘misinformation’, he said, which made mockery of not only the assembly but the people as well. Congress MLA and CLP leader Tokheho Yepthomi said the budget was not for the common people but only for a few selected and privileged people.
He termed it an anti-people budget and one of the most biased and imbalance budgets ever. “It is not people’s budget,” Yepthomi said. “It was a privileged people’s budget.” Talking on a huge deficit under the DAN government, he said Nagaland’s financial position become unimaginable. He suggested that the government must have a perspective plan for 10-20 years for development and employment generation. Yepthomi also said that the government must take serious note of the issue of revenue generation.
Also, Congress MLA Chingwang Konyak termed the budget an “imbalance budget” and that there has yet to be an economy policy. He reminded that the state cannot always depend on grants from the central government; Konyak said Nagaland must find means and way to augment its resources. He held strong views that much corruption is going in the state ‘as the people are not paying income tax and property tax.’
Konyak suggested that the government should think of starting taxation of commercial buildings in few important towns to earn revenue and help the people. Chingwang also opined that small tea growers should be encouraged to improve the local economy and suggested greater emphasis in the area of tea cultivation. Referring to unemployment, he said a proper monitoring system has to be there to see whether the opportunities are being utilized properly or not.
