NPF Press and Information Cell (P&IC) on Saturday said that the party had taken serious note of the allegations made by ACAUT on chief minister, T.R. Zeliang that the latter had been “withholding information” with regard to “drawal” (sic) authorities issued by the Finance department.
Reminding ACAUT of the RTI Act 2005, NPF P&IC said ACAUT should have “first filed a complaint to the PIO of the department (Finance), then to the appellant authority, if appellant authority also fails, it had to complaint to the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) for final hearing.” However, without following the procedure, P&IC pointed out that ACAUT bypassed the CIC and went into the public domain, which it said was “a sign of sheer ignorance’s and having some hidden agendas.” P&IC further posed several questions for ACAUT to take note of “who was in-charge of Finance in the government, at that point of time from April to July 2017? What authority is vested on an Advisor of the finance department that he can ‘withhold Information’? Why does ACAUT not question the then chief minister Dr. Shürhozielie, who was in-charge of Finance department.”
Taking a dig at ACAUT for particularly raising the issue after T.R. Zeliang took over as the chief minister, the P&IC termed it as “a pathetic and failed attempt to tarnish his (TR Zeliang) image.”
It further went on to hit out at ACAUT for purportedly bringing out the statement on the day of the rally (August 25) held at Dimapur. “It is a cheap stunt to garner public sympathy,” P&IC stated. In this regard, P&IC said the “hidden political agenda of ACAUT” stood bare for all Nagas to see.
The P&IC advised ACAUT that if it claimed to be a non-political organization, it should “identify the person or persons with vested interests” within the ACAUT and remove them from key positions. Asserting that the T.R. Zeliang’s government was competent and committed to transparency and good governance, P&IC said all the departments were being streamlined to ensure that these objectives are translated into reality.
Maintaining that the government was for the people and not for self-aggrandizement, P&IC however expressed surprised that there were “certain sections of people who do not want to see T.R. Zeliang’s government to run smoothly but accuse him of all the ills to tarnish his image and create havoc at every given opportunity.”
It said no matter how much the “stooges try to topple T.R. Zeliang’s government”, the party was confident that the general public would be wise enough to differentiate between good and bad. “We believe, despite all distractions, people of Nagaland will continue to support and cooperate with the government and move forward together towards peace, progress and prosperity of our State,” P&IC added.