Through your esteemed paper, I would like to share some of my observations on the visible changes in the work of Kohima Municipal Council, Kohima over the past two years. This pertains to the developmental activities under taken by the council in its humble way despite many constraints. First of all, I gave Kudos to the leadership of the KMC for taking the initiative in visiting the entire Wards of Kohima town to have first hand information on the problem faced by the denizens vis-a- vis to establish personal relationship with colony people which is very important towards ushering progress and growth and also for the maintenance of cordial atmosphere. To what extent KMC has ascertained the grievances of the colony dwellers and its approach for redressal is a matter of debate and time. However, the gesture shown by KMC is a big encouragement, a morale booster for the colony leaders who sincerely and devotedly work for a better ambience. It is pertinent to point out that KMC after its interaction with the colony dwellers has done away with the “Service tax of 5%” which the colony/ward has to pay back to KMC from the sanitation fee collected by them. This has come as a big relief keeping in view of the deteriorating conditions of the vehicles and its maintenance cost and also towards payment of salary to the driver and his co-worker.
Another tangible achievement of the present KMC is abolishment of the Coupon system and putting it directly under its control. This has got rid of the business monopoly enjoyed by few on certain commodities that had often lead to price hike of essential commodities at will in the past. It now gives ample opportunity for the petty business people also to earn their livelihood without any hindrance in procuring their commodities.
The Beautification of the main town like painting of the Foot Bridges, construction of pay and use toilet, construction/renovation of drains and new public foot path on the road sides are all visible rooms of improvements that we are witnessing. With proper vending & allotted timing for street vendors there no much complain and constraints face by the pedestrian.
In recent time, one of the news magazine reports in its national survey has categorized Kohima as the 5th costliest living city in India. Perhaps this is attributed to the sky rocketing prices of commodities for reasons best known to us and also owing to lack of mechanism to control price hike. Here my humble plea and suggestion to the KMC is to atleast constitute a special squad to check whether commodities are sold at the prescribed rate issued by KMC in different markets of the town and defaulters are booked under appropriate section of the law. Evidently fruits, vegetables to poultry products etc are all sold at random prices fixed by the traders and the consumers are at their mercy. This is a matter of great concern as all our belly needs to be filled. Displaying of price hoardings and setting up of consumer complain cell by KMC will go a long way towards streamlining the price control.
Lastly, I exude confidence that if the KMC leadership continues with these small innovative developments, a day is not far when Kohima the mirror of Nagaland will be Smart City in reality. As the saying goes that “we cannot clap with one hand” it is our zealous responsibility also to come forward to help and support KMC in its endeavors. Here the Kohima citizens should also no longer bask in its legacy as the land owners but instill the sense of responsibility towards doing their duties by joining hand with KMC to echo the old song of “Kohima will shine today”
