Nagaland govt gives written assurance; ENCSU calls off agitation for now
Kohima, September 6 (MExN): Reiterating their demands for the review of NSEE-II results 2016, the Eastern Nagaland College Students’ Union (ENCSU) held a peaceful agitation on September 6 outside the Directorate of Technical Education with members of ENCSU from most colleges in Kohima gathering in the scorching heat.
Protesting in parallel with the emergency meeting that was held on the same day at the Chief Secretary’s official residence, where the concerned department held a meeting with the Chief Secretary, the President of ENCSU, Nokchem Angth said, “We are fighting for our own shares. We are agitating against the government and department for our rightful share. This issue should not be taken on tribal lines.”
Earlier, the Union had sent an ultimatum to the Chief Secretary on July 16 after which a representation was further sent to the Chief Minister on August 12. The Union had demanded for the immediate review of the NSEE results declared on July 15 and for allocation of the four seats missing from the BTs quota to the candidates belonging to BTs by conducting re-examination for candidates of the BTs or award grace marks. It further demanded that backlog seats from the past one year (2015-16) should be given back to BTs without consideration in order to deliver justice to candidates from the deprived areas.
After the meeting, the officials gave a verbal assurance to the protestors however, dissatisfied over the verbal assurance of the Director of Technical Education, the protestors demanded for a written assurance where the officials had to comply. Minutes after the demand, the Director submitted a written assurance to the Union which read, “As per verbal instruction/advice given by the Government during an emergency meeting called by the Chief Secretary, Nagaland at his official residence on 6th September 2016 at 9:30 am, the Department has decided to conduct counseling in three phases. The next and third counseling shall be conducted after the approval of the Cabinet/Government.”
Following the written assurance, the Union has called off its agitation temporarily. However, the ENCSU President reminded that if the decision of the cabinet is not according to the demands of the union, it would resume the agitation.
It meanwhile expressed gratitude to the Angami People Organization (APO), Angami Youth Organization (AYO), Eastern Nagaland People Union Kohima (ENPUK), administration, police, students and citizens of the capital city for their cooperation. While apologizing to the Angami Students’ Union (ASU) for not intimating an official copy about the ongoing agitation on time, the ENCSU requested all for cooperation if the state cabinet fails again.
