S Henlly Phom
MON, MARCH 11
THE efforts of Eastern Naga Students’ Federation (ENSF) to guide the people of Longleng, Mon, Tuensang and Kiphire Districts took a nose dive the fourth day at Tizit area under Mon District. The interaction with the participants under Tizit area brought the students right back to square one.
The previous three days of their familiarisation and fact finding tour had been filled with incessant grievances from every individual against irregularity of teachers, poor infrastructure of schools and mismanagement of Mid-Day Meals (MDM) and inadfequate school materials, but they were simply not prepared for what they were told by villagers at Tizit.
The ENSF officials learned through the village elders from Tizit area that Village Development Board (VDB) Secretaries were made to sign on a blank cheque by their concerned Block Development Officers (BDO) for wages under the under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme for 14 days. But the villagers alleged to having received only wages for only 4 days as opposed to 14 days.
ENSF office bearers have noted this irregularity with distress and have mooted that such kind of practise should not be followed and further warned that any individuals repeating such mal practice will be doing so at their own risk.
The ENSF officials along with Tizit Area Students’ Union (TASU) and Konyak Students Union (KSU) also inspected the North East Council (NEC) Road along Tizit to Nokyan Junction bordering Arunachal Pradesh. During the inspection it was found that the road constructed along the stretch of Tizit to Nokyan Junction was dreadful. The road was recently completed but there are already potholes developing on the macadamised surface leaving one wondering what the recent work on the stretch was all about. The materials used for construction was found to be insufficient and the workmanship sub standard. It was noticed that even in this dry season the roads were already being washed away. Keeping in mind that the roads are an important connectivity between Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, the question remains what will happen during the onslaught of the monsoon months. ENSF fearing the foreseeable future have appealed to the concerned department not to release the final payments till the completion of work on the road.
ENS ‘Advocacy Tour on Wheel’ under the theme ‘Wheel the mind’ is being sponsored by Eastern Naga Legislators Union (ENLU) and media partnered by Eastern Mirror.
