DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 14 : The State Government has reportedly called for a meeting with the apex tribe bodies on November 16 next at Kohima, six days ahead of the Assembly Session on November 22. Invitations were made through telephone calls, according to a leader of an organisation.
He said that they were expected to discuss the Nagaland Municipal Act of 2001, which was amended in 2006. “Though it is about the municipal tax (to which the apex bodies have objected), I am sure we will discuss the reservation issue also because it is related.
“And all the other tribes that have remained silent till now will also have to speak up that day because we don’t have any choice,” he said. On the government’s plan to amend the Municipal Act, he said it would be premature to say anything before the proposed meeting.
Another leader, a general secretary of his tribe’s apex body, also confirmed that the leaders have been invited to the meeting through phone calls. On November 11 last, the Speaker of Nagaland Legislative Assembly, Chotisuh Sazo, had confirmed to Eastern Mirror that he had received a written application to amend the Municipal Act during the Assembly Session on November 22.
Lotha Hoho alludes to foul play
In a bizarre turnaround, the Lotha Hoho on Monday claimed that the news report stating its endorsement of the “33% women quota” – which appeared in a local daily on September 1 last – was “generated and passed on to the media, by unscrupulous elements” without the knowledge of the organization’s officials.
“The Lotha Hoho therefore hereby disown the said press statement and clarify to all that the matter of 33% Women Reservation under the Municipal Act of Nagaland, is under examination and deliberation; by the Hoho and that the LH has so far no concrete decision on the matter,” it stated in a press release.
It stated that the Lotha Hoho had carried out enquiry and verification of the source of the press statement that it “backs 33% Women quota”, for more than a month and arrived at the conclusion that it was the handiwork of “unscrupulous elements”.
The news report had quoted the chairman of the Lotha Hoho, Mhao Lotha. In its rejoinder the Lotha Hoho pointed out that his official name was Mhao Humtsoe.
