CMO reacts to report on construction cost of CM’s residential building

Drawing attention to an article published in a section of the local media (not Nagaland Post), wherein it was claimed that the cost of constructing the chief minister’s residential building has crossed Rs. 400 crore, the chief minister’s office (CMO) on Tuesday asserted that it was a wild allegation devoid of any truth and amounted to irresponsible journalism.

In  a press statement, the CMO media cell stated that the news article, which was based on a reported poll, had quoted “some mischievous participants” whose sole purpose appeared to be to defame the government.

The CMO media cell clarified that though the government decided to construct a new residential office cum building for the chief minister towards the new secretariat in 2001, the actual works could start only in 2003 on a 14-acre plot of land.

It pointed out that CM’s residential complex consisted of a building for the CM’s residence, another building for the office, a VVIP guest house, State Banquet Hall, 47 units of staff quarters, barracks for security personnel and drivers, security fencing, road constructions, retaining walls, foot paths etcetera. 

Till date, CMO media cell said an amount of Rs 56.83 crore has been sanctioned and 90% of the works have been completed.

For the second and finishing phase, it said an amount of Rs 31.09 crore was being processed for government approval, adding that once the amount was sanctioned, the entire complex was expected to be completed this year.

While contractors (M/S NN Construction & Décor, Nagaland) were doing their best to provide quality constructions and racing against time in spite of fund constraints, the CMO said negative commentaries in the local media “replete with fantastic figures as mentioned in the said news report” has definitely created an undesirable impact in the minds of readers who expected reporters to cross-check their facts and figures before going to the press.

Therefore, in the larger interests of the public, and in particular, to ensure that the standard of journalism was not reduced, the CMO has appealed to all media houses to verify the veracity of the sources, facts and figures before the stories reached the readers.