Aboi District Demand Committee (ADDC) has reiterated that it would continue with its demand for a separate district of Aboi, even as it accused the State government of overlooking the May 16, 2017 notification that prioritised Aboi for examination and consideration.
The organisation also served an ultimatum to the chief minister and warned that ADDC would resort to its own course of action, if the state government failed to concede to its demand at the earliest.
Briefing media persons here Thursday afternoon, ADDC working convener Konwang Konyak asserted that Aboi, currently a sub-division, qualified to be upgraded to a district as it fulfilled all criteria and had the necessary facilities.
He said it had a population of 59,000 with three Assembly constituencies and 34 villages, excluding towns and unrecognized villages, five administrative offices (two SDO and two EAC) and one ADC office, three RD blocks and has 34 government departments with 10 departments having DDO powers.
Asserting that upgrading Aboi to a district would also be economically viable, Konyak explained that it was a huge problem for people from upper Konyak areas to visit Mon town even for petty issues, which ultimately affected the local economy.
The ADDC leader informed the media that in June 2017, Chang Khulei Sethsang, Phom People Council, Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation and United Sangtam People’s Organisation had extended their support to the demand for a separate Aboi district.
On a similar demand for creating separate Tobu district, which was more than 100 km away from Mon, Konyak said currently Tobu area did not qualify to be upgraded to a district as there were pending disputes between Konyak and Chang communities.
According to him, though Tobu was far off from Mon town, the pending disputes should be first resolved, before considering whether the area qualified to be made a separate district.
Konyak also remarked that Tobu area did not meet the requisite criteria in terms of population or Assembly constituencies. He, however, added that it could be upgraded to an independent ADC headquarter as making it a district now would create problems.
The ADDC leader asserted Aboi was the only suitable town in upper Konyak area as it was a tri-junction through which one could easily access Tuensang, Longleng and even Myanmar for foreign trade.
Questioning the State government’s response and its citing of a “technical problem” for not conceding to ADDC’s demand, Konyak said Aboi was all set to be declared a district.
ADDC member Manlem Konyak, who too was present on the occasion, informed the media that the people of the area were even offering land to the government for the purpose of establishing necessary infrastructure. He said that Mon, which had nine MLAs, was one of the biggest districts of the State. “And a single deputy commissioner cannot handle all the issues of the community,” he pointed out.
He said if Aboi was granted a district, it would be a boon for rest of the Konyak community, especially those residing in upper Konyak areas under Mon district.
Meanwhile, according to the documents made available to the media, Home department through a notification had re-structured the areas of jurisdiction of the sub-divisions – Longching EAC with four villages was brought under Aboi sub-division, while four villages of Angjangyang, Changlang, Angphang and Jakphang sill remained under Angjangyang sub-division.
The order also stated that Mopung EAC headquarter had been brought under Angjangyang sub-division.