DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 22 (MExN): The ACAUT Nagaland today informed that as per RTI documents, the Nagaland State Government, as of December 7, 2016, “had Rs. 5229.56 Crores parked in its coffers, as released by the Centre to the State for the years 2015-16-17.”
This amount, the ACAUT said in a press note, “is more than enough to pay the salaries of all the SSA, RMSA and Hindi teachers combined 100 times over.” Instead, it lamented that the previous government had “subjected teachers to humiliations, water cannons and finally beggary.”
“It’s heart-breaking to know that hundreds of innocent teachers are in debt to money lenders, unable to pay the exorbitant interest levied, thanks to the greed of our unscrupulous legislators,” the ACAUT said. It further condemned the previous government for “falsely claiming before the Naga people that the state was in financial deficit when it is clear that the 14th Finance Commission had already released Rs. 5216 Crores as the state’s share of taxes.”
Quoting the RTI document, the ACAUT stated that “the Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant (or state’s share of tax) is a general grant and utilized by the state government as a whole through budgetary allocations.” It reasoned that the government could have “utilized the money in any manner it deemed fit, including payment of teachers’ salaries.”
The ACAUT reminded the newly formed government under Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu that the lies of the previous government that it had no money should not be repeated by the new CM,” it cautioned. It further urged the new CM to bring in CBI for investigation into the fuel adulteration case, rice scam and to investigate whether the released Rs. 5229 Crores is still parked in the state coffers. It further asked the CM to make public the HPC Report “before the ACAUT does the same.”
It meanwhile informed all government servants and contractors that “there’s enough money to pay all pending bills and pending salaries. And any other excuses not to release salaries and bills are blatant lies to usurp the money for 2018 elections.”
