Kohima, March 12 (EMN): The Kohima Municipal Council (KMC) is ready to begin work even after it had incurred losses to the tune of Rs. 3.50 crore during the recent upheaval relating to municipal elections. The KMC could retrieve only four chairs and two sacks full of cashbooks after the complex was set on fire.
The herculean task for the office will be in reconstructing the legacy and history of the municipal council since 1957, as office records have been destroyed.
The KMC Administrator Kovi Meyase said that ‘the most priceless losses would be the office records which are irretrievable and irreplaceable and we need to get back into digging into all those to reconstruct our history.’
Nonetheless, Meyase said matter-of-factly that it cannot afford to sit back and cry over the loss. To compile record again, he informed about a plan to make a public appeal to offices, organizations and individuals to help utilize their records relating to the KMC. It will approach various other departments likewise.
However, he said that the most difficult part will be in rebuilding clerical records and data such as service books and accounts: they will have to be rebuilt ‘purely on trust factor.’
Meyase was grateful that flagship programmes such as the AMRUT, Swaach Bharat Mission, Housing for All and the Kohima Smart City have been digitalized at the department and ministry level. Someone from the office will be going to Delhi to collect relevant records, it was informed.
When queried how the incident had affected the work of the office especially in sanitation, Meyase said ‘logistically when it comes to sanitation it has not really affected us, although the morale of whole office was really affected.’ In fact, he said, they were ready start work by the fourth of February, and had even asked the bandh organizers to allow them to start cleaning the town.
‘Although we had faced such a tragedy, out intent was that we had to perform our duty to show that we are of service to the town’ he said.
On the impact on revenue, Meyase said it was considerable as 60-70% of revenue was dependent on income from trade licenses. Further, without the office, import coupons for essential commodities for two whole months could not be issued.
Further, he said that tolls gates were badly affected as the authorities had to vacate them for about two months and vehicles were not plying.
Appreciating all the help from concerned sections of the society to the KMC, the administrator said, ‘It was an avoidable tragedy. However, due to the support and assistance given by various citizens, organizations and the government we have been able to function again, and stand where we are as of today.’
