Govt told to ‘offload’ superfluous workforce
EMN
Dimapur, December 12
The anti-graft civil platform Action Committee Against Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) has plainly called Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) the “most corrupted government agency in Nagaland, thanks to the blatant political interference from the government. The ACAUT issued a press statement today mincing no words as it criticized the yet-another controversy the council is mired in – the so-called “lessee” system that collects toll tax although the government is supposed to have banned taxation. The system is a major contributor to increase in prices of essential commodities, the ACAUT said Thursday.
“DMC is the most corrupted government agency in Nagaland due to blatant political interference. In 2012, the CM himself ‘requested’ the then CEO, DMC to appoint Peter Rio, Tiatemjen and Daniel Kuotsu as lessees on the ground that these three gentlemen were ‘educated unemployed youths’. In the same year, the honorable MP, Rajya Sabha, also ‘requested’ the CEO to appoint one Huska Sumi, ‘hardcore party leader’ as one of the lessees (copies attached),” the ACAUT revealed.
The ACAUT also echoed common public perception that the municipal council had become a leverage point for politicians. “Every UDD Minister/Parliamentary Secretary or CEO thinks that DMC is their personal fiefdom. The result is that DMC is the most bloated government agency in Nagaland today with 305 employees out of which only 142 are sweepers and scavengers; the people actually responsible for keeping the town clean,” the ACAUT, which enjoys widespread public support, said. The organization quipped that it is a “world record” that the rest of the 163 employees are either peons, chowkidars or simply attached to the office for salary purposes ‘which is unheard off’.
It was revealed that the cumulative salary of all the employees amounts to a whopping Rs. 41 lakhs per month. The ACAUT has demanded that the government ‘offload’ the excess staff in the interest of genuine DMC employees only. “It is incomprehensible that any minister or parliamentary secretary having concern for the common man would allow such a farce to thrive at the cost of public health. The UDD/ state government is clearly responsible for the mess in DMC today,” the organization said.
To the Urban development department, the ACAUT had this to say: “Is the Urban Development department deaf? Why is it still appointing lessees to loot Dimapurians when the ACAUT has clearly revealed that the lessee system is a major contributing factor for the price rise/ high prices of essential commodities in the state? This fact has been clearly mentioned in our memorandum submitted to the CM Rio on 30th August, yet, the UDD and the state government continue to ignore our demands that DMC be revamped and The Nagaland Municipal Act amended by doing away with toll-gate collections. The DMC is not a political football field for politicians to appoint their cronies as lessees to loot and harass the general public.”
Noting the growing heaps of garbage in Dimapur town, the ACAUT said that public health has been put to risk as the ‘DMC Employees Association’ is unhappy and ‘refuses to clean the garbage’. “An outbreak of diseases is a real possibility and in the event of such, the UDD, the concerned parliamentary Secretary and the state government shall be held solely responsible,” a concerned ACAUT said.
The ACAUT said that the government must solve the DMC impasse as per the 30th August memorandum submitted to the chief minister or an ‘action plan’ would be initiated.
Further, the ACAUT reminded that the government has not responded to the public platform’s request for formation of a high-level commission as per the 31st October public resolution. ‘The ACAUT has no other choice but may call for a Nagaland bandh at any point of time,’ it stated.
The organization has asked the public to gear up for a public cleaning drive as the DMC people have stopped sanitation activities. “In the event of the impasse continuing, citizens of Dimapur are requested to be prepared to undertake a mass social work on the 16th Dec to clean up the garbage and filth for which the ACAUT will issue further notice.”
