DIMAPUR, APRIL 20 (MExN): The Eastern Naga Students’ Federation (ENSF) has urged the Nagaland Government to revamp and restructure the Department of Under Developed Areas (DUDA) along with adequate allocation of funds in order to address and achieve the purpose of its creation. According to a press note from the ENSF, a representation to this effect has already been submitted on 18th April 2013 to the Chief Minister, who is also the Minister in-Charge of DUDA.
The ENSF has pointed out that though DUDA was established particularly for the erstwhile Tuensang & Mon districts, the “DUDA did not function and serve as desired by the people of Eastern Nagas”. In fact the ENSF stated that with the creation of DUDA, the fund allocation in all the departments under the State Government has sharply been cut down to a marginal share for the four district of Eastern Nagaland as per annual state budget.
It went on state that initially DUDA covered only Eastern Nagaland districts but in the later part few under-developed pockets of another 4 Districts were included under the department with no enhancement or additional fund allocation.
The Federation has expressed regret that in the last decade, “DUDA had become a handicapped department due to various anomalies & irregularities without proper mechanism in the functioning system and inadequate funding”. “If DUDA is to be function as in the present, the Department will not serve the purposed it was envisioned for”, stated the press note from the ENSF.
It was also pointed out that due to absence of DUDA offices at the district level, the programmes and projects “could not be verified & supervised by the department efficiently, which leads to unnecessary delays/pending of works, ultimately resulting to inferior quality in the implementation of developmental activities in the region”.
The ENSF representation to the CM signed by its President Likhumse Sangtam and General Secretary Honang Jessuhu has noted seven points for consideration. Firstly, the ENSF wants DUDA to be a full-fledged Directorate with special focus for the 4 (four) Districts i.e. Mon, Tuensang, Kiphire and Longleng of the Eastern Nagaland with the establishment of district level office for smooth monitoring & implementation.
It also wants the administration & functioning system of DUDA should be revamped & restructured. Engineering wing should be headed by Chief Engineer. Also, under any circumstances, the DUDA funds should not be misused or diverted to any other departments or programmes.
The ENSF representation also pointed out that Eastern Nagaland being the most “unattended region in the state needs more and urgent attention of the state government in order to uplift the socio-economic and educational backwardness”. In this regard it stated that the present fund allocation for DUDA is “serving less to the neediest”.
“Therefore, the state government should sanction not less than Rs. 100 Cores under UDAP annually, if the state government is so serious to develop the Eastern Nagaland Areas”, the ENSF states. The State government should also approach to the Ministry concerned (GoI) for more funds under BADP, it points out.
With regard to the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF), it was pointed out that this is being implemented under the department of Rural Development (RD). DUDA being the nodal department for the backward areas, BRGF should be implemented by the DUDA, the ENSF stated.
Stating that the creation of DUDA has become a bane instead of boon, the ENSF pointed out that after the creation of DUDA (particularly for Eastern Nagaland), only nominal funds were allocated in all the other departments for the four districts of Eastern Nagaland in the past State Annual Budgets. “The four Eastern districts hold only 16.3% (i.e Rs. 60612 lakhs) of the total state shares of Rs. 371536 lakhs as per Govt. Works Programme 2012-13 (as per analyses done for 53 departments including DUDA).. Henceforth, equitable and proportionate allocation of fund should be maintained in all the departments for four district of Eastern Nagaland”, stated the ENSF.
