Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, JUNE 12
The popular people’s movement, Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) is in possession of a list of backdoor appointments committed by the state’s department of Rural Development in the last 15 years.
The list – which has been procured after filing an RTI application – would be made public soon through the local newspapers, according to the co-convener of ACAUT Joel Nillo Naga. This was announced at an ACAUT meeting, involving chairmen and GBs of all villages and colonies under Dimapur district, held here today in Dimapur.
Joel stated that the “priority” for ACAUT now is to fight against, and expose, the practice of backdoor appointments rampant in state departments. “If we have to fight corruption, we have to identify priorities,” he added.
According to Joel, many Naga civil organizations as well as individuals, file RTI applications which they do not make public. “ACAUT is not the first one to file RTI applications. Many Naga organizations and individuals have applied (for RTI) but they never publish them in the papers.”
He said that instead of publishing the information, those organizations/individuals threaten the officials of the department concerned, who in turn pays off the RTI applicants to prevent them from publicizing the information supplied.
Conversely, some officers have instantly resorted to damage control exercise after ACAUT had filed the RTI application. According to Joel, an officer in one of the state’s departments had appointed his own daughter through the backdoor.
After an RTI application by ACAUT, the same officer – “in fear of being exposed”– had terminated his daughter’s appointment, he informed.
Joel also spoke briefly on the findings of the High Powered Committee (HPC), formed by the state government to examine and report on the issue of taxation by underground groups, government officials/departments and NGOs.
He informed that most Heads of Department, “but not all”, are now refusing to pay the 24% deductions from the salaries of government employees to the underground groups. The same goes with the 5% deductions, Joel said.
He said that the department officials have now found basis, in the form of the ACAUT letter directing all HoDs to abstain from paying any money to the NPGs, to refuse the demands from the underground groups.
From the 8-month-long probe, according to Joel, the HPC had learnt that most government officials are scared to go against the demands of the NPGs. “The HoDs do not complain, the Chief Secretary is not taking any action, the system is like that,” he shared.
At the discussion hour, ACAUT members resolved to remind the NSCN-K as well as the Indian Army not to harass innocent public or cause violence in public places. The colony/village leaders were asked to delegate two youth representatives each, aged between 30 to 45 years, to ACAUT.
The members also suggested that the Dimapur police commissionerate should set up a toll-free number for the public to enable them report any cases of extortion instantly and directly. The colony/village leaders also took a pledge, committing themselves to the ACAUT principle of “one for all and all for one.”
