Kengim H. Zeliang
Peren
Having learnt about the shifting of the Peren District Headquarter to the new site by the month of September 2012 which is mired in deep controversy, I undertook a tour to get a glimpse of the pace of development in the “now supposed” model Headquarter. It was suppose to be a model. A Headquarter with proper planning and set up to cater to the needs of the people of the District and the State. A replica for the other ten districts to emulate. With much enthusiasm and expectation I surveyed the area but to my utter dismay I stood disappointed. Disappointed not because my people willingly gave their land to the Government for Development, not because my people shared this dream of having a model Headquarter in the State. Good roads with the best of buildings planned aesthetically are what every man craves for. I was not disappointed because I only felt betrayed.
Peren became a new District in the year 2003 and nine years have passed by and we have seen six Buildings completed in the model district headquarter so far. It took the Government nine years to complete Five Buildings till date whereas it seems to have taken only 248 days for the Chief Ministers official residence to be completed. This is a model township, first of its kind in the State. What an achievement. Incredible pace of development we have seen.
A model would inhibit the best of roads, buildings, with state of art facilities and services for the people. My model district headquarter has the cheapest and the poorest quality of materials used for the building structures and roads. It has become a productive hunting ground for all sorts of people, Contractors, Politicians or a common layman to fight for contracts. They are having a field day all at the cost of the District. The roads leading to and out of the model district are pitiable and it does not show signs of improving with poor poor workmanship, intentionally ignoring the laid down specifications of the contract. The slow progress and development compounded with meagre workmanship have left me startled really. The Monitoring Agency/ Department should ensure that works at the model district headquarter is implemented as laid down and defaulting Contractors should be dealt with all seriousness. The District NGO’s have failed miserably in this front. They are supposed to keep a check on Contractors going out of way but they remain an accomplice. It is also the business of the State Government who sanctions these contracts in the name of a model township to see to it that it is executed as planned.
It is also a shame to talk of Model Township when the existing infrastructure cannot be taken care of either. The Peren to Tening Road is no longer a Road as it is nothing but a stream in summer and a dried river bed in winters. In the name of model district headquarter, many other immediate and basic concerns have taken a backseat and the district funds have been diverted and concentrated in this particular area. All we see in nine years are, I repeat six completed Buildings with not even the basic medical care, power, water, public transport facilities in place. If I may add here by saying that the pipes used for the model district headquarter to feed its populace are those black ugly plastic pipes. How hilarious can it get! Even private farm houses have different and better CGI Pipes. Not Plastic! And that too for a model district headquarter.
With no private residences coming up for whatever reasons it may be, accommodation facility even for the Government Employees is nowhere in sight. A Government Officer/Staff is supposing to camp there in the wilderness. As a fellow Blogger in the Peren District Group rightly quipped that a Government Officer needs to have a .22 Rifle to go to Office in the new Headquarter as it will be a good hunting ground. Seriously, it is a good pretext for the Officers posted to Peren Headquarter not to attend Office and this is definitely not the right way to go about it.
Can we expect an Administrative Headquarter Offices to deliver its services to its people judiciously when the very setup needed to run one is totally lacking? Not all Government Officers have an attached Vehicle and surely most of the Government Employees do not have the luxury of private vehicles as most of the VVIP’s/Politicians do. But they remain the creamy layer of our Society. Common men in a town or a Villager do not and will not have the capacity to even pay for the taxi fares to take them to the new District Headquarter. An Individual will have to dole out a thousand rupees to get his/her documents attested by a Gazetted Officer. Today, an Indigenous Inhabitant Certificate issued by the Deputy Commissioners Office Peren can be availed by a Common man after completing all formalities by paying some amount anywhere between twenty to thirty rupees. In the proposed situation, it will cost more than a thousand rupees taking into account the travelling and other expenses he/she would have incurred. The even worse tragedy would be if the Officer is out of station, the expenses would be recurring. Is camping in the jungle an option?
With six buildings in place in six years, no staff quarters, no medical facilities, lack of proper drinking water and power, no hotels, hostels, the proposed move of the Peren District Planning and Development Board to shift to the new site is but a bad joke. We are not asking to be silver spooned but the basic needs and essentials need to be in place before the transition really takes place. The wisdom of the DPDB Peren in willing to take this plunge is highly questionable and alarming. The DPDB comprises of the elite group of the State who are well educated and is supposed to be the highest seat of planning in the District where every member is equally responsible for the decision that it resolves. Seeing the present state of affairs in the new site but to still flow with the current would be utter folly and sacrificing the trust that the people of the district has on them.
The model Peren Headquarter is beyond politics and parties if the concept of a model township is sincere and committed. Or was it a bad joke??
