Patton warns state employees playing truant

[caption id="attachment_284169" align="alignright" width="400"] Y Patton[/caption] Our Reporter Dimapur, Nov. 23 (EMN): Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton has warned of stern action on any government employees who are found absent from their places of posting in the eastern districts of Nagaland. Patton asked the people from the region to ‘report the matter to him’ if any government employees were neglecting their duties. He said posting in eastern the districts should not be treated as punishment, but rather as a ‘blessing’. Patton was addressing at the 25th anniversary of Eastern Nagaland People’s Union Dimapur (ENPUD) at the DDSC stadium on Saturday. He urged the 20 legislators from eastern districts to adopt villages to ensure that developmental activities under various departments are executed ‘in all sincerity’. Patton said there are 25 blocks and 332 villages in the area and suggested the legislators to adopt two villages each for two-and-half-years. By doing so, he said, at least 20 model villages will emerge from the eastern districts. Also, he pointed out that without community participation, any attempt by the government to develop the area will continue to run into challenges. Mincing no words, Patton pointed out that the highest number of legislators to have held charge of the Rural Development (RD) department were from the eastern districts. But the elected representatives were not to be blamed, he said. Patton said that the region has the highest number of thatch roofing because beneficiaries under the RD scheme sell the CGI sheets for fast bucks instead of using it for the intended purpose. The deputy chief minister further said: “If you have political appointment, you will have political obligations; but if you go through competitive examinations, you will have no obligations.” He assured that his door was always open for people from the region, and appealed to them not to threaten government officials without reason ‘because at the end of the day, the state government is at the receiving end for any lapses’. On the occasion, Patton urged the people from the region to forgive, forget the past misunderstandings, and ‘go forward with positivity’.

Will uphold gentlemen’s agreement

Terming Nagaland as a “state of rumours and propaganda”, Patton appealed to the people not to be swayed a by the rumour mill/propaganda, and assured that the present government under the leadership of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio will complete its tenure. “We cannot betray our gentlemen’s agreement and pre-poll alliance; and we are committed to deliver good governance with the present government,” he asserted. The chairman of Eastern Nagaland Legislatures’ Union Pangnyu Phom, who also holds the charge of Health and Family Welfare, in his address, remarked that every organisation Is formed with a purpose and the ENPUD was formed for the sake of unity. He urged the people not to be bogged down by ‘reservation/quota mindset’. Phom also said that “political appointment is full of uncertainty”. The president of Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organisation (ENPO) Kekongchim Yimchunger, in his address, remarked that it was because of the uniqueness and history of eastern Nagaland that the six tribes were together; and that the main objective of ENPO was to sow the seed of unity and love with the other Naga communities.