Enough buildings for quarantine centres in Nagaland: RTI activist

Kohima, May 24 (MExN): A citizen who used the Right to Information (RTI) Act to gather information on construction of hostels, institutions, tribal halls, guest houses, lodges, multipurpose buildings, and other government facilities in the state, has questioned why the state government has not requisitioned these facilities to be used as quarantine centres.


A press release to this effect was issued on May 24 by  ST  Yapang Lkr, who filed an RTI in the Planning & Co-ordination Department in September 2019, following news reports that the ANPSA has requested the state government to review its decision in regard to the requisitioning of private schools and hostels for utilization of the premises as Quarantine Centres.


“The Department of Planning & Co-ordination under the state government had sanctioned huge amount of money to many individuals, institutions, NGOs, societies, tribal hoho, and village organizations etc for construction of hostels, institutions, tribal halls, guest houses, lodges, cultural centre, multipurpose buildings, youth centre, working women hostels, EMRS etc in almost all the districts and even to a larger extent even to some villages in Nagaland,” the press release stated. The projects were undertaken with effect from 2012 to 2018-19, it said.


As per the records made available when he filed the RTI, a total of 223 such facilities were recorded with 50 located in Kohima district alone while Dimapur district had 51. In other districts, there were 19 such projects in Peren, 23 in Mokokchung, 20 in Phek, 14 in Tuensang, 11 in Mon, 9 in Wokha, 8 in Longleng, 7 in Kiphire, 9 in Zunheboto, 1 hostel at Chokriba while the location of a Multipurpose Hall cum Badminton Stadium was not mentioned.


The projects were undertaken with a total cost of Rs 16049.81 lakh as per information provided by the Planning & Co-ordination Department in October 2019. 


As such, the RTI applicant reasoned that “if the Government has actually constructed the under listed hostels and other buildings as claimed by the Planning & Co-ordination Department,” the returnees from outside of Nagaland and the front line workers can be easily accommodated in such buildings “without disturbing the ANPSA.”


He further requested the Government of Nagaland to give directions to all the Deputy Commissioners to requisition the hostels and other relevant buildings in the respective districts and the villages to be used as quarantine centre for returnees from outside of Nagaland. 

 

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There are enough buildings for quarantine centers in Nagaland according to some findings