DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 17 (MExN): Responding to several of the corruption charges made by the Opposition Congress in the run up to the Assembly Elections slated for February 23, 2013, the ruling NPF President Dr Shurhozelie has stated that it was for the people of Nagaland to judge who has done more for the people when in power.
“Congress, with interruption of PR for three years in the early nineties, ruled Nagaland from 1982 November to January 2003. NPF-led DAN government was in power only for the last 10 years. Judge who has done more”, stated the NPF President in a press note while adding that the charges of corruption made by the Congress were “without proof”.
Terming all such charges as wild and unfounded, Dr Shurhozelie stated that the Congress leaders have not spelt out their programmes but were only criticizing others. The NPF President has meanwhile claimed that the RTI was introduced in Nagaland during their time which gives right to the people to have access to any information they wanted about the functioning of the Government.
The NPF leader stated that Congress leaders have the freedom as any other people in the State to check the wrongs, if any, committed by the Government through RTI. “But since they cannot find any fault with NPF-led DAN Government, they are trying to confuse the people with wild allegations. As money Maniacs they will go on talking about money, money and nothing more. They cannot convince the Naga people to form their Government based on criticism and wild allegations”, Dr Shurhozelie stated.
According to the NPF, a saying goes, “a thief suspects everybody as thief like him and adulterer suspects everybody as adulterer like him”. “In line with this saying, Congress leaders are suspecting NPF-led DAN Government that we are also money maniacs like them. But we are not money maniacs but we work for the welfare of our people”, the NPF President stated.
Meanwhile, the NPF President has termed as unfortunate that I. K Sema, a senior Congress leader, while campaigning in Mon district, had made allegations against the Chief Minister and the NPF President of embezzlement of public funds, such as urban housing scheme for the poor in Kohima and Dimapur.
In this regard, the NPF President claimed that the NPF-led DAN Government had “taken up very ambitious projects under JNNURM, such as construction of dwelling houses under Basic Services for Urban Poor at Kohima and Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme at Dimapur which is also a sub-mission of JNNURM”.
The NPF press note informed that at Kohima, constructions of 1512 dwelling units at 3 different locations are nearing completion. Once completed, the same will be allotted to deserving persons through the recommendation of Ward Communities to be headed by Departmental Officers with Ward/Panchayats leaders and dwelling Units in Dimapur was taken up under IHSDP at two different locations. In Netaji Colony the project was completed and inaugurated. The project in Burma Camp is yet to be completed. The process of allotment of dwelling units to the poor is same for Kohima and Dimapur, stated the NPF President who is also the Minister for Urban Development in the present NPF government. Stating that all these projects are for the urban poor, the NPF President asked the Congress to come out if they have done something for the poor like what the NPF was doing.
