Says, construction of 176-bed hospital ‘flawed and fishy’, demands NIA probe
In its unrelenting attack against the ruling PDA coalition in Nagaland, the NPF Legislature Party (NPF LP), has slammed the ruling government for throwing all norms and conventions to the wind to divert funds under the pretext of tackling the covid pandemic without taking concurrence to budgetary ethics and parliamentary provisions.
NPFLP spokesperson Imkong L. Imchen reminded that even though the NPF was given the mandate in the 2019 elections as the single largest party with 26 seats; it was not invited to form the government as per parliamentary conventions. However, he said NPF did not make an issue of it but chose to play its role as a constructive opposition in the house.
Imkong said the NPF continued to play its role as a constructive opposition for three years but regretted that the ruling PDA coalition has taken the NPF’s humility as weakness by ignoring all established norms and procedures in governance of the state.
He said the NPF can no longer “tolerate the arbitrary and dictatorial functioning of the PDA government, led by the chief minister Neiphiu Rio.”
Imchen pointed out that the High Powered Committee (HPC) on Covid-19 was formed as per the home department’s June 1,2020 notification with the chief minister as chairman with six other members. Imchen accused the chief minister, who is chairman of HPC of “abusing its powers” since, as per the home department notification, the HPC was constituted only for policy matters related to Covid-19.
He pointed out that HPC was not mandated to encroach upon the state plan budgetary mechanism. In this he said the Local Area Development Programme (LADP) was initiated in 1991 by then chief minister Vamuzo under ‘Compact Area Development’. Since the beginning the LADP fund was borne out of State Plan and placed under MLAs for development of their respective constituencies.
Imchen said LADP is therefore a legislative mandate monitored by the Department of Planning and Coordination(State Planning Board) with chief minister as chairman.
He said guidelines for LADP were notified and approved by the legislative assembly and so it(LADP) was within the domain of the legislative jurisdiction with voted money under plan. Imchen therefore, said HPC has no legal authority to divert LADP fund to a different head ”without routing through the legislative assembly.”
He inferred that the vote of the house was bypassed in effecting a f 25% cut on LADP for covid-related matter by the HPC. He termed the cut as “unconstitutional and illegal action/activity of the HPC” which was liable to be quashed or superseded by another notification.
He reminded that as per the constitution of India, there is no provision stating that the government of Nagaland “is an aristocratic oligarchy” but a “democratic government elected by the people” for a period of five years.
Imchen lamented that the “incumbent government” was acting as an aristocratic government by negating all laid down norms and procedures. He said this was untenable as the HPC has no authority whatsoever, to encroach into the legislative domain to divert voted (plan fund/LADP) for covid-19 expenditure.
He also termed the allocation of Rs.30 crore for 176-bed for covid under CIHSR as “another oligarchic action of the PDA government. “Imchen cited recent remarks of PD of H&FW Dr. Neikhrielie Khimiao who said that the 176-covid bed capacity under CIHSR would be a “makeshift covid hospital”.
Imchen said makeshift hospitals are usually tentages and so creating of a 176-bedded capacity for Covid patients costing Rs.30 crore happens only in Nagaland under the present ruling dispensation.
In this regard, Imchen said the NPFLP demands that the governor of Nagaland order NIA investigation into the whole process of the construction of 176-bedded hospital as it was “flawed and fishy” since no tender in any form, was floated.
He also said though districts in the state have District Task Force on covid-19 established for covid-related purpose, yet so far there has been no fund allocation worth mentioning to these bodies.
Imchen said all district hospitals, CHCs, PHCs and Sub-Centres were “painfully neglected” despite these being the Nodal/Primary centres who were actually Frontline workers fighting covid pandemic.
According to Imchen, there is no proper deployment of manpower in all these areas except “high sounding nomenclatures such as Expert Panel, High Powered Committee, State Disaster Management Authority, War-Room etc”.
He further said hospitals and offices are sealed while the state is under lockdown without proper and logical arrangement. Imchen concluded that the government of the day was non functional for all practical purposes. That was why offices of finance department, treasury and accounts and banking institutions were not sealed adding the reasons being obvious for all to understand.
In the light of the above, Imchen said NPFLP was duty bound to seek the intervention of the governor of Nagaland so that poor people of the stater did not succumb to Covid-19.