NPF has termed chief minister Neiphiu Rio’s announcement of building good roads in the State within a year’s time as “most astonishing” as his government could not even utilise the fund sanctioned during the previous regime, nor initiate work on roads for which work orders were already issued.
It claimed that work orders were already issued for two-lane Golaghat-Purana Bazaar and four-lane Purana Bazaar-Chumukedima roads in August 2017, besides the two-lane New Check Gate-Lerie road in September 2017.
In a communiqué issued by its press bureau, NPF asked Rio to clarify which road he was contemplating to take up as all the ongoing works were accorded approval during T.R. Zeliang’s tenure and for which work had already started in full swing, before the off-season halted the ongoing works.
Claiming that improvement and development of road infrastructure in the State had been a priority when it was in power, the opposition party said thousands of crores of rupees had been approved by the Central government for the purpose, which in itself was a record of sort and an achievement of the NPF government.
It termed Rio’s announcement as “mockery”, as whatever he was claiming as his government’s achievement were projects already accorded approval by the Zeliang regime.
NPF also asked Planning and Coordination minister Neiba Kronu on what ground he was stating that the State government would shell out funds from its own resources for the roads as funds from the Central government would take time.
The opposition party asked the minister how much fund he would allocate from the State resources and how much he would disburse for the roads.
Instead of finding “flimsy excuses to take credit of what the previous government had done”, the opposition party asked the ruling coalition to pursue with a “missionary zeal” and complete the various road projects initiated by the previous regime judiciously within the stipulated period.
Reminding the People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) government of its promise made in the Legislative Assembly during the last Budget session to complete all roads connecting district headquarters within 30, 60, 100 days, NPF pointed out seven months had already elapsed and nothing of the sort was visible.
It added that Rio had also committed to the people of completing all roads in the State within one year, while Kronu had said that the roads would be constructed before the onset of festive season.
The opposition party asked the planning minister to declare the amount appropriated from the State exchequer for building the roads, as in the last budget session he had said that Rs 60 crore was set aside for road improvement in all the district headquarters.
Alleging that PDA government in reality could provide only Rs 25 crore to PWD department, as per the reply given by the minister in charge of the department during the recently-concluded summer session of the Assembly, the party reasoned that it was difficult to trust the government unless the amount was appropriated by the planning department and released to the implementing agency.
NPF said the one year Rio was taking from the Naga people to complete the road projects could be too long as apparently the days of his PDA government was already numbered.
Stating that it did not speculate, the party alleged that his seven-month-old government’s achievement was zero, even though financial mismanagement and misgovernance were “too obvious to be seen by every party and people.”
NPF reiterated to work in the interest of the people, while reminding them that the PDA government has already lived its longevity.