KOHIMA, NOVEMBER 10 : Network of Nagaland Drugs and AIDS Organization (NNagaDAO) staged a protest rally here on Thursday against National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) for non-release of grant for HIV and AIDS intervention works done in the State for the last fiscal (December 2015 to March 2016).
Hundreds of NNagaDAO members, representing various districts and comprising staff, drug users, PLHIV, sex workers, took the street to vent their resentment and marched to the Chief Minister’s residence to submit a memorandum. Today’s protest rally was the third phase of protest by NNagaDAO.
They marched with placards that read “We have worked, give us our salary”, “No pay no work”, “Prevent HIV/AIDS by timely release of fund”, “Debt is the worst poverty”, “The future of our younger generation was at risk” etc.
Interacting with media persons, NNagaDAO president Abou Mere said the NNagaDAO members were protesting against the nonpayment of salaries for works done on HIV/AIDS from December 2015 to March 2016. Stating that the NNagaDAO members today represent more than 30,000 people, he said if the intervention works are not done, they all will be affected.
Mere expressed dismay that during the last financial year many of the members suffered for taking loans with interest to make ends meet while some others were even asked to vacate their rented houses for nonpayment of rents.
The memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister stated that NACO and NSACS were constantly engaged in blame game while the NGOs and the staff continue to suffer.
It has appealed to the State Government to take measures that prevent the third parties from exploiting its citizens particularly when a person belongs to the weaker section of the community.
Stating that majority of the grassroots workers in the field of HIV are People Living with HIV (PLWHA) and People who Use Drugs (PUDs), the memorandum said the state government has the constitutional obligation to take legislative and administrative measures for realisation of the right to life and protect its citizens.
It has appealed to the Chief Minister to intervene with all the influence under his command and to facilitate the release of the pending grants to all the organisations affected by this crisis. The memorandum also requested him to address the barriers and take measures to ensure that the backlog fund of the last fiscal is released at the earliest by NACO.
