Dimapur, Jan. 11 (EMN): In what appears to be a well-choreographed PR assault on the ruling government, the NPF legislators on Friday continued to attack the PDA government over the alleged mismanagement of grant-in-aid.
After their counterparts from Mokokchung and Kohima on Thursday, it was the turn of NPF legislators from Phek and Wokha today to launch another attack on the PDA government. The party’s Phek legislators— Kuzholuzo Neinu, Yitachu, Chotisuh Sazo, and Kazhienyi Khalo—issued a statement claiming they were “appalled by the flimsy excuse of the department of Rural Development in an attempt to shield the PDA mismanagement of grant-in-aid.”
It stated that the department’s claim to have released fund to two districts and some blocks of another has been disavowed by the respective districts. “Now the department is passing the buck to central ministry’s guidelines for the non-payment of the GIA. This is nothing short of incompetence on the part of the state government and the department.
“Are not the state government and department in place to work and assist the public and accordingly accord them the benefits that the centre grants? The department should not be adherent to safeguard the misdeeds of a few vested interest individual by making unsubstantiated claims at the expense of poor innocent villagers,” the statement read.
They asked the chief minister, who is also the minister in charge of RD department, to explain how the sub-allocation given to the communitised departments as per requirements has been “drastically reduced to bare minimum.”
In a separate statement, NPF legislator from Wokha, Dr. Chumben Murry suggested that the “recently discovered anomaly in the management of grant-in-aid by the Rural Department (sic) may just be the tip of the iceberg.”
According to him: “Interaction with VDB secretaries at Wokha (district) reveals that schemes have long since been submitted; however, Wokha district also has not received the GIA backlog. Parking money meant for development for a prolong (sic) period is not acceptable and the department owes explanation to the people.”
He urged the governor to conduct an impartial inquiry.
