Kohima, July 16 (MExN): NPF today expressed disappointment and surprise at ACAUT Nagaland’s rejection of the Special Investigation Team set up by the Government to investigate the fuel adulteration case as the rejection followed with the rider that Commissioner of Police, Dimapur should head the SIT. This, it said, clearly indicates that ACAUT is concerned for Dimapur district alone.
“To a layman’s understanding, since adulteration appears to have affected the whole State, the Government’s decision to set up the SIT headed by an IG level officer to upgrade the level and broaden the scope of investigations, appear to be the right move…,” stated a press release issued by NPF Press Bureau. Propriety and procedural lapses will surely occur if an SP of a district or Commissioner of Police, Dimapur were to take over investigations in another district(s) of the State, according to NPF.
The party further stated that ACAUT should not hamper the Government to go ahead with the investigations as per laid down rules and regulations if it sincerely wants the Government to get to the bottom of the matter to uproot evil practices. “It (ACAUT) should also not jump the gun by casting aspersions on the integrity of the SIT even before the Team can bring out its report,” the release stated. “Being an NGO, it should act like an NGO rather than appear to be acting at the behest of certain parties vested with political interests.”
Regarding allegation of Chief Minister’s silence on the case, the release said, the day the matter came to light, the CM had called for a meeting with the DGP and Chief Secretary to update himself and suggest ways to look into the issue urgently. He also held a series of discussions with the Home Minister and top officials concerned on the issue, it said. He also had a lengthy discussion with the Commissioner of Police, Dimapur and suggested various measures to ensure that the guilty are brought to book and the practice stopped once and for all, NPF said.
Meanwhile, admitting that the discrepancies and issues raised by ACAUT in recent times need to be corrected for the betterment of the whole society, the NPF stated these discrepancies, malpractices and irregularities have been continuing for quite some time and is not the creation of the present Government alone. “So, instead of locking horns and going against the Government of the day, it would only be proper and appropriate if it cooperates and jointly work to correct the undesirable practices in the system.”
In this light, NPF opined that intensive checking throughout the State under the upgraded SIT should be appreciated by one and all, and every individual, agency or concerned citizens should extend their cooperation to the investigating team without hampering or interrupting the process of investigation.
‘Congress jittery after formation of NEDA’
In a separate press note, NPF stated the Congress party in Nagaland appears to be jittery after the formation of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) since the Alliance has vowed to rid the region of the Congress after the next General Elections.
Referring to NPCC ridiculing the 15 minutes Assembly session and the legislators taking rest the next day, NPF said the duration of the first day of the NLA session was only 15 minutes because the business of the day required only 15 minutes to be tabled. After the session, most of the senior legislators, including the Chief Minister, rushed off to Guwahati to attend the launching ceremony of the NEDA the next day “where it was unanimously declared that the Congress party is a conglomeration of forces inimical to the progress and prosperity of the nation,” it stated.
“The call for Congress-free India by 2020 was resoundingly loud, and it is understandable that the Congress remnants in few pockets of the country, including Nagaland, should be perturbed.”
The release further informed that right after the meeting, the participants from Nagaland returned back to the State to attend the next day’s Assembly session. Far from taking rest on the intervening day of the two-day Assembly session as alleged by the Congress party, NPF said, the “legislators and party functionaries were literally burning the midnight oil to ensure that the Congress party becomes a memory after the next elections in the State and the region.”
“So, instead of concerning itself with whether the present legislators care for the predicaments of their Constituencies, the Congress party in Nagaland should worry if it would get people to take their party tickets in the next elections in the State, or if their ticket holders can retain their security deposits after the election results.”
