Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, OCTOBER 30
On early Friday morning, the torturous – and the seemingly endless – struggle of the people of Nagaland against corruption in the state was injected with a much needed jolt of commitment when around 60 “volunteers” embarked on an anti-corruption walk covering the distance of 74 km between Dimapur and Kohima.
A brainchild of the Nagaland-based mass movement, Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT), the anti-corruption walk has been scheduled to culminate at Raj Bhavan in Kohima on Saturday. On the first day, the volunteers are to walk till Piphema.
At 8 am on Friday the chairman of Chumukedima village, Razouvotuo Chatsu flagged off the walk from Chumukedima town in front of a massive crowd who had converged to witness the event. Aside from the core ACAUT members, almost of the volunteers were college students – including the girls.
After knocking on almost all existing doors previously, the anti-corruption crusaders led by ACAUT are pinning hope on the Governor of Nagaland, PB Acharya this time around. According to ACAUT leaders, on reaching Kohima, they will head straight to Raj Bhavan where they will serve the Governor with a memorandum.
The two chief demands featured in the memorandum to the Governor include immediate introduction of a strong Lokayukta in Nagaland and instant implementation of the High Powered Committee (HPC) which was submitted to the state government last year.
Given the Governor’s reputation as a staunch advocate of clean governance, the mood among ACAUT leaders –and the people of Nagaland – is one of optimism. There is a strong belief that the person on the other side of the door is as committed, if not more, to fight corruption as those knocking on it.
As put by one of the ACAUT leaders on Friday morning, the walk against corruption was a direct result of having a “deaf and blind government” in Nagaland today. “It is a peaceful walk to show that not everything is fine in Nagaland.”
