Dimapur, Jan. 15 (EMN): Two more NPF legislators have waded into the controversy surrounding the alleged mismanagement of grant-in-aid by the state government. On Tuesday, BS Nganlang Phom and T Torechu—in a joint statement—accused Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, also the minister in charge of Rural Development, of misappropriating INR 185.09 cr. released as additional grant under Niti Aayog on Nov. 8, 2017.
“The fund allocated by the high level committee (HLC) which was constituted with chief secretary as the chairman on 13.12.2017 was ignored and sub-allocations were made unsystematically in total violation of the guidelines. The fate of four communitised departments in the state viz. School Education, Power, PHED and H&FW are at stake due to the unilateral decision taken by minister in-charge.
“The four departments had submitted their proposals with the schemes as per the requirement of the respective departments which was approved by Niti Aayog. Accordingly, the high level committee (hlc) in the state had accorded sanction as per the requirement of the departments but in total contradiction; the allocations were drastically reduced, without consulting the concerned departments and HLC.
“To top it all, INR 96 cr. allocated by the HLC as grant-in-aid for the 74 RD blocks covering 1238 VDBS in 11 districts of Nagaland, out of which only 2 districts, viz Peren and Dimapur has received, though the same was released by the finance department in the month of March, 2018,” the statement read.
On the issue of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, the duo stated that Rio sought the attention of the Centre for review of the Bill only after the opposition NPF had raised the issue with reminders and sought the stand of the NDPP led government. “It is unprincipled on the part of Neiphiu Rio to blame the NPF party for not raising the matter in 2016 because he was the lone MP of NPF representing Nagaland then. He should have educated the NPF party in the state and Naga people in general on the matter instead of pointing his finger at the NPF party.”
They also asked why the current Lok Sabha MP from Nagaland, Tokheho Yepthomi did not raise objection in the Parliament. “The Naga people need to understand why Neiphiu Rio, the Chief Minister and Tokheho, the MP Lok Sabha kept silent and woke up only after passing the bill in the House of the people,” they stated.
