Dimapur, Sep. 27 (EMN): The Rising People’s Party (RPP) has demand the state government to hand over the “Shopping Complex and Parking Plaza” at Forest Colony in Dimapur to the Naga entrepreneurship community through an MOU, saying that it can empower a generation of young entrepreneurs from the state.
The party claimed through press release that the shopping complex project, which was funded by the Ministry of Urban Development and HUDCO, was constructed at a cost of INR 43 crore.
It said that information obtained through an RTI revealed that ‘the project was conceptualised by the state Planning and Co-ordination department/State Planning Board and built in Forest department land, which in turn was funded by the Urban Ministry’.
The party stated that as per the RTI, “the Forest department claims that it owns the complex”. However, it raised suspicion over the government’s intention and alleged that the shopping complex could have been abandoned after a possible ploy to allow a private entity to manage it failed due to the public outcry over the actual ownership of the property.
While terming it as wastage of public resources, the RPP said that it will oppose any move to privatise the complex or let Forest department manage it. However, the party demanded that the complex be handed over to the Naga entrepreneurial community and appealed to the latter to “take ownership of the issue”.