Day: June 12, 2013

The post Johnny criticizes Center for dishonoring Nagaland appeared first on  KanglaOnline.com.

KOHIMA, Jun 12(NEPS): BJP said the Congress-led UPA Government at the Center had ignored the historical importance of the state of Nagaland while deciding the state’s the Annual Plan Size this time.

Talking to NEPS here, newly appointed National Vice President of BJP Schedule Tribe Morcha (BJPSTM) Johnny G Rengma explained that the present state of Nagaland was born out of political negotiation between the then Naga People’s Convention (NPC) and the Government of India. And when it was created, the state was not “economically viable” to run as state on its own. Therefore to supplement the revenues of new state, the Government of India had to pay “Lumsum towards the cost of development and a grant-in-aid towards meeting the cost of administration” from the consolidated fund of India, he disclosed.

“These are the historical facts,” he argued. “The Center cannot ignore these realities.” Regrettably, such status accorded to the Nagaland state had been systematically diluted by adding more and more states in the list of “special category states,” he said.

Rengma, who is the first Naga from the state to occupy the prestigious position of Vice President of BJPSTM, expressed his utter dismay on the way the Congress-led UPA Government had shown disrespect to the DAN Government in the state by even reducing allocation of Annual Plan Size to the state this time from the previous year, whereas all other northeastern states had been substantial increased their Plan money.

He also came down heavily on the Congress-led UPA Government’s attempt to abolish the only Ministry that took care of the northeastern region—DoNER, which was created when the BJP-led NDA government was in power. The BJP would not, at any cost, allow the Congress-led UPA Government play such a sinister design to abolish the Ministry, he said and further alleged they were not interested to see the growth of the Northeast people.

Rengma also assured that he would fight for the rights of the tribal people in the country and see that any tribes who were not given due recognition as “Schedule Tribe” get their due honor and status.

He also called upon the people of Nagaland and Assam to sort out any differences—be it border or any other issue—through mutual understanding and dialogues.

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The post “Assam-Nagaland Interim Border Agreement sh??ould be immediately reviewed”: Dr TM Lot?ha appeared first on  KanglaOnline.com.

KOHIMA, Jun 12 (NEPS): Former Minister and leader of Nationalist Congress Party (NPC), Nagaland, Dr TM Lotha, MLA, termed the 1972 Assam-Nagaland Interim Border Agreement as “defective and one-sided” and said it should be immediately reviewed.

Talking to NEPS here on Wednesday, the former Minister in the DAN-I, who was closely monitoring, besides so vocal on the Assam-Nagaland border issue since long time back, said the 1972 Interim Border Agreement which was again reviewed in 1979, should be further immediately reviewed because “it is defective and one-sided favoring Assam.”

Citing instances to substantiate his charges, Dr Lotha said as per the 1972 Interim Border Agreement, the 7 reserved forests along the border should be looked after by Assam Forest Department. Unfortunately, instead of taking care of the said 7 reserved forests, almost all the reserved forest areas had disappeared over the years and over 130 villages came up inside these reserved forest areas with CGI sheets provided by the Assam Government. Then according to the agreement, the border areas within the Disputed Area Belt (DAB) should be under the security maintenance of the “neutral forces” under the command of an IG of Assam Police. “So it nothing but an extension of Assam police,” Dr Lotha said and further argued that the very purpose of placing the DAB under neutral forces was defeated.to
Again as per the agreement, all the police stations and outposts should be withdrawn from the DAB areas, Nagaland obliged to whereas Assam did not. As such the Nagas living in the border areas had been extensively suffering over the years. “Because any person arrested in the border areas should be handed over to the nearest police stations within 24 hours and since we don’t have any police station in the border areas, any Naga arrested had to be taken to Assam police stations and for which their families had to experience unusual hardships in bailing them out,” Dr Lotha narrated. “Because of all these factors, I termed the agreement as defective and one-sided favoring Assam and as such it needs immediate reviewing,” he said.
Dr Lotha also recalled how a team of 10 MLAs led by him during the DAN-I Ministry was trying to ease the frequent border problems facing the Nagas along the entire border with Assam. “A team of 10 MLAs led by me wrote a letter to Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio for the urgency to construct the foothill road under the funding of the Asian Development Bank (ADB),” he said. “The Chief Minister also agreed to our proposal.”

He further disclosed that even DPR was prepared and it was sent to ADB. They had also given them green signal. Regrettably, after this positive development, nothing was pursued and the matter was kept in cold storage, he pointed out.
Dr Lotha reiterated the importance of the construction of the “foothill road” on two counts. “One, whenever there were any type of bandhs or agitations or strikes in Assam side, the Nagas mainly living along the border can travel without passing Assam. Two, it will be economical as the road is much shorter than the one we take it through Assam,” the NCP MLA explained.

Dr Lotha also revealed that in 2006, he had a thorough discussion with the Chief Minister that there were fund of about Rs 2 and ½ crore for the construction of Doyang Bridge near Governor’s Camp. “In fact, it was reflected in the works program and even a tender was floated,” he said. “But regrettably, work order was never issued and as such no bridge is still over Doyang River in this particular area.” “The foothill road will have to cross the Doyang River near the Governor’s Camp,” he added.

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