Says DAN government is mired with corrupt practices
DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 14 (MExN): The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) today stated that the present DAN government in Nagaland State is mired with “lapses, blunders and corrupt practices,” and called for the resignation of the Chief Minister. It further called upon the Governor to step in and dismiss the present government without further delay.
A statement from the NPCC Working President, Ayang Aonok lamented that voices of dissent are being “trampled upon” and “dictatorial tendency is raising its head…” to the extent of “curtailing the session of assembly to a few hour and debarring MLAs from raising question in the Assembly.”
It claimed that the financial health of the state is “deteriorating by the day,” and “policy paralysis and mishandling of almost every issue has dogged the DAN resulting in total collapse of governance.”
The NPCC stated that the DAN government has “scant regard for state government employees” and treats them with “disdain; salaries are withheld in many departments, backdoor appointments continue unabated but at the end of the day, government servants are blamed for consuming a major chunk of state budget.” It added that teachers are being treated as “bonded labor making them work without salaries for months together.”
The NPCC further stated that the DAN government “erred in welcoming and joining the mainstream of GST regime,” and accused the TR Zeliang government of making a “u-turn on the issue of urban bodies elections oblivious of the select committee of Nagaland Legislative Assembly in 2012 under his chairmanship unanimously resolved to reject applicability of part 1XA of the constitution of India and further recommended to the assembly to pass a resolution to frame own laws for conduct of Municipal and Town Committee elections in lieu of part 1XA of the constitution.”
The NPCC meanwhile pointed out that the Supreme Court in a recent judgment ruled that election of a candidate can be set aside for making false declaration on educational qualification in the nomination papers.
It alleged that the Chief Minister is “hiding behind legal nicety and refuses to speak the truth,” regarding his educational qualifications, “unlike Neiphiu Rio, who had openly clarified through the print media.”
The NPCC further pointed to anti corruption movements in the state and to “skeletons in almost all key departments and putting the government on the mat through RTI and other reliable sources.”
The petroleum issue is a case in point, it said, while stating that “this narrative encompasses everyone and therefore the government should have handled the issue with utmost sincerity and sensitivity.” It however lamented that the DAN government “unleashed police force to contain the protestors.”
The NPCC then reminded that the Governor had also expressed anguish “over the manner in which funds were siphoned off and had appealed to the people to get hold of the person who is siphoning all the money.” “The anguish expressed through the media by no less a person than a Governor in such a candid manner is unprecedented and speaks volumes of the morass that we are in. To buttress the Governor and add insult to the injury, NPF ally, BJP has boldly gone on record to say that DAN government is corrupt; DAN government has crossed all limits, and acknowledged that people were in utter misery,” the NPCC stated.
In the light of the Governor’s frustration, it pointed out that the “NPF’s most prized ally BJP’s candid admission of corruption and a series of ultimatum served on the government over corruptions and mismanagement by various organizations is a pointer to the fact that Nagaland is headed towards a despotic and kleptocratic regime.”
No other government in the state, the NPCC claimed, “has been so mired in corrupt practices as DAN regime, and therefore, the only course left before the beleaguered Chief Minister is to resign from office or the Governor should step in to dismiss the government without further delay.”
