Lenangh Angh
A good leader is one who makes wise decisions during the most difficult situations.
First of all, I appreciate government of Nagaland who is working tireless from Chef Minister to the lower level special the frontline workers who are risking their life, inspite of various criticism faced by them. However I want to pen down some of my views which we faced in this current difficult situation. Well is it not time to plan, act and action? I think it is not a good time to wait for the central government to make decisions for the state. Giving precautionary measures to combating COVID-19 and case report of COVID-19 information is important to the people provided it also translated to respective local dialects. While on the other hand what is more important and urgent action right now is to consider the daily wage earners (providing assistance per day), Press media & journalists and private employers like in restaurants, hotels, showrooms, etc, who have not been paid their salary. Of course government too is trying to provide enough help to the citizens as much as they can, apart from that will it be better if the government comes up with another good alternative arrangements and take a serious note about the issue. The distribution of 3-5 kgs of rice and some other essential commodities by the government and various other NGOs to daily wage earners and stranded students during the lockdown period of more than a month is quite inadequate and insufficient.
In comparison to our neighbouring states and others we can see how they make decisions instead of just depending on the center. Let us consider some of them.
Assam: Instead of depending solely on centre the Assam state government is also importing some medical kits from outside the country. Besides providing financial assistance to stranded students the government has also plan to construct five temporary hospitals with 300 beds each across the state for COVID-19 patients and in its place set a target of creating 1,000 ICU beds at its permanent facilities across the state, which is a good decision.
Meghalaya: Beside financial assistance to the people, the government has purchased 25 ambulances and were most of the time the Chief Minister is active on social media and connecting to the people.
Sikkim: The government has decided to provide INR 300 per day for labour besides providing financial assistance to stranded people, the government also presented a cheque of INR 31.10 lakh to Press Club of Sikkim. Were a total of 135 journalists of daily newspapers, 41 journalists of weekly newspapers as well as of electronic and digital media will be benefited, the government while taking into account the valuable service contribution in ensuring timely dissemination of news and information who have risked their lives during the most difficult situation of COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
Arunachal Pradesh: The Government has decided to give INR 1000 each to all the registered famers on PM- Kishan Scheme in addition to the monetary relief extended by the center besides financial assistance who are stranded in various parts of the country and INR 2000 per month has decided to provide to construction workers in April and May.
Uttar Pradesh: Uttar Pradesh Government has decided to compensate daily wage laboures and construction workers by giving INR 1000 per month which also shows that the government understand the pain and suffering of the people.
Andhra Pradesh: The government has imported one lakh rapid test kids (RTKs) from South Korea to step up COVID-19 testing in the state instead of waiting for center.
Chhatisgarh Government: The government has decided to start pool sample testing for COVID-19, instead of waiting for the center to make decision.
Nevertheless Nagaland government has lately announce yet not very late, a special package. Were some students bodies, NGOs and various others organizations also raise the grievances faced by the stranded people , while some other states has taken a step for a week ago. With the announcement of the package many of the stranded people hurriedly try to registered themselves but are finding difficult to apply through the link provided to them and the response from the government is very slow . Later on mygovnagaland which is functioning on Instagram responded that the server is slow due to overwhelming response and be patient, while we try to improve our service added by mygovnagaland. However according to the news report the capacity of the server are being enhanced with allocation of higher system resources with bandwidth. Let us also try to learn how to cooperate with the government while they are working hard for us then.
At some point of time the suggestion of the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) should be taken into account by the present government which they have suggested an INR 10,000 to 15,000 per month should be given to those who have been stranded outside the state. Forming a high level committee is necessary so that they will decide about the amount and do the necessary at the earliest.
I don’t want a government who, most of the time was slept and woke up only when the situation knock at the door. I want a government who is wise enough, alert and ready to face any difficult situation, not on newspaper but in reality. Is Nagaland government already late to renovate and maintain the hospital and hurriedly install Biosafety Laboratory and others equipments. Shouldn’t it be prepared beforehand?.
The government is in a habit of informing only good news to the people through newspaper while in reality it is not. This habit should stop practicing by the government. While the Mon district has only one Ventilator, Nagaland Public health Infrastructure statistics mentioned that Mon district has four Ventilator, on the other side the newspaper headline shows that the government is well prepared to fight COVID-19, making the District hospital as COVID-19 Hospital, and on other days the news headline shows that COVID-19 hospital Dimapur is unprepared, and in another case it has reported through newspaper that Covid-19 hospital Dimapur has referred one of the patient to GMC Hospital Guwahati. Is really Nagaland government is prepared to fight COVID-19,? That’s the question! Enough is Enough!
Is not Nagaland government is prepared to fight COVID-19 only on newspaper? Most of the district hospitals do not have ICU facilities and other sophisticated medical facilities, for example, the only ICU in Tuensang is managed by the Assam Rifles and the public. Whereas the government said that they are well prepared, is this not a shame to the Ministry of health and family welfare and the present government. For the last couple of years funds meant for health facilities were not fully utilized by the government and most of the fund goes somewhere else and now we are facing lack of medical facilities.
Well, as per the opposition party Naga people’s Front (NPF) dated 27 March, 2020 (Eastern Mirror) claimed in the news headlines Nagaland healthcare centers are ill-equipped to fight CIVID-19 and accordingly No. of ICU facilities in Eastern areas is Nil and Protective equipment (kits) for doctors, nurse, frontline workers was not received yet till 27 march, 2020, except Tuensang and Mon district which has 14 and 19 items available and that too was of sub-standard quality according to the report. The 20 Legislators of Eastern Nagaland should also think carefully why the region lacks in various kinds of facilities while we have 20 MLA’s. If COVID-19 is a Third World War, then we could be destroyed in an hour because we have Guns with No bullets. And the news headlines will state that Nagaland Government have enough bullets for War and people are saved.
I want to ask the government of Nagaland in case if COVID-19 has not occurred will you able to do the same things as you are such as hurriedly renovating and maintaining the government hospital? Forget about other good machinery to install, I don’t know why its take difficult to establish a good machinery by the government, unless the situation like COVID 19 knock at the door. Last year i.e., 2019, the Minister of Health & Family Welfare stated having a Medical College by the year 2020 and I wondered when this long awaited dream of Nagas will come true , while Manipur has already two Medical College. The fact is that the government has not fully utilized the funds meant for development especially in health, education and other infrastructure is leading the state to face lots of difficulties.
The Government of Nagaland a Christian state is one of the most corrupted government as compared to other states who is only good on advertising achievements and tall promise. Shifting blame to one political party to other political party becomes a political parties habit, instead of focusing on the issue. The Government of Nagaland have crores and cores of money by MLA's but no money to maintain the state. The recently deduction of 1 month salary from the Legislators to combat COVID-19 is a good move and on the other side you have pocketed half percent of development fund mean for constructing various other infrastructure for personal benefits and left the state like an orphan who have no parents to look after the state for such a long time. I don’t want a government who only can maintain their luxury house and couldn’t able to maintain even Naga Hospital Authority Kohima, shouldn’t there be a good sophisticated medical facilities long before being a Capital City Hospital?. You can speak tall words but your actions show us in opposite directions. Actions speak louder than words. No more saying “Change is Coming” I don’t know what change has come so far it’s up to the people to judge, I could only see floods, landslides and coronavirus had come thus far. No more saying “Deeds not words”, I can’t explain I am speechless, I could only see collapsing of bridges, pothole roads and lack of infrastructures in the state. We cannot even maintain the only two industry that we have i.e., Sugar mill and Tuli paper mill, forget about other new industry to be set up. Unemployment issue will raise in the state more and more in the near future, if the government does not take it seriously.
I also urged upon the respective political parties of Nagaland to let the old aged politician to step down and give a farewell to them, so that it will create some space to the young educated Nagas who are really dedicated to serve the people to enter into politics and we can participate and raise our voice in the Legislative Assembly, instead of raising voice on newspaper and protesting outside the Legislative Assembly. A new government with young leader with new vision is the need of the hour.
Lastly I thank COVID-19 , oh sorry, Nagaland Government who hurriedly brought BSL-2 and BSL-3 in Dimapur and Kohima respectively due to COVID-19 pandemic, which will benefit the people of Nagaland as a whole and in the near future too. Let us join hand together in this difficult situation and we will defeat COVID-19, irrespective of which political party that you belong to.
Kahvangi anyei moihimante (May God Bless Nagaland)
