Allegations of haphazard planning surfaces
Kohima Bureau
Kohima, Nov. 30 (EMN): The much-hyped 10-day Hornbill Festival, dubbed the Festival of Festivals by the Nagaland government, is set to begin its 18th year mark on Friday at the Naga Heritage Village Kisama. This year, the inaugural function of the festival will see the attendance of the President of India Ram Nath Kovind.
Ever since the Hornbill Festival—held annually from Dec. 1 to the 10th—started to attract regional, national and international attention, Dec. 1, which marks Nagaland Statehood Day, has gradually been losing its significance.
Sadly, even this year, the 54th Statehood Day failed to find any mention in the government's invitation and programme for the day.
Nagaland state came into being in 1962 out of a political concurrence following years of bloodshed and suffering of the Naga people, and was formally inaugurated on Dec. 1, 1963.
However, the significance of this day has been relegated to the backseat and instead, the state’s government has taken to spending huge amounts of money each year, celebrating a festival dedicated to a bird which is not even the state bird, while basic public infrastructure lie disintegrating. The Blyth's Tragopan is the state bird of Nagaland.
Meanwhile, the government’s hyped invitation to dignitaries from outside the state to visit the festival also appears to have been snubbed by none other but the chief ministers of neighbours as well as Home Minister Rajnath Singh himself. The official festival programme brochure which was handed out to the media today had visible traces of post-print corrections.
The government’s groundwork for this year's edition of the festival has drawn much disapproval from various quarters, starting from a hasty decision to shift a major feature of the 10-day extravaganza—the Hornbill International Music Festival—from Kohima to Dimapur citing 'security reasons'; a delayed green signal for preparations and cancellations from VIPs expected from outside.
Sources from stake-holding departments, who wished not to be named, complained of delayed planning and execution of works of the entire festival. Nagaland Tourism, the nodal department for organising the annual festival, also overlooked its conventional press conference this year which otherwise was a regular package where the department briefs the media and through it, the public, the highlights of the festival.
Also, it was learnt that official badges and car passes to enter the festival venue were distributed only from Nov. 29. Some departments raised the issue of insufficient car passes particularly for participating departments.
“They (Tourism department) issue only 4-5 car passes for the entire department which makes it very difficult for those who are transporting materials. They think only the big bosses of the department have to be given passes. What they need to understand is that, it is not the bosses who will be transporting necessary stuff and setting up works,” an irate employee of a stakeholder-department said.
Some departments mentioned also that delayed stall allocation has caused undue harassment: there was hardly time for both the department and the entrepreneurs to plan ahead.
Still others more also expressed dismay about allocation of funds that priority should be given, according to the role and work contribution of each department.
