Corrupt people need to be exposed: Acharya

Things do not seem to move in the way it should be moving in Nagaland, Acharya said while addressing mediapersons here at Raj Bhavan.

During his 74-minute media interaction, Acharya said “there are certain things that needs to be tightened”, adding, as a governor he wished to see his government improve in many ways. 

“There is no opposition in the assembly, no counter agency, no Lokayukta. I want my government to be improved,” he reiterated.

Important matters concerning the state need to be raised in the assembly, but it was not so, he lamented. Things have been more concentrated on issues like– suspensions, merger of one party to the other etc., he said, while cautioning that the Central government has taken note of all the happenings in the state.

Recalling his “nightmare-journey”, referring to the pathetic road conditions, to Longwa in Mon district and Pangti village under Wokha recently, Acharya said he was surprised to see that such areas have been left neglected and not as expected.

He said it was on the invitation of Lok Sabha MP, Neiphiu Rio, that he had the opportunity to travel to Longwa, saying it was a “bone cracking and elephant ride”.

For Longwa, that shares the international boundary with Myanmar, he said crores of rupees have been spent for development. However, Acharya said he was surprised as “everything was fraud. There was absolutely nothing. Even one beautiful building was turned to a cow shed.”

He further expressed regret that none of the nine MLAs from Mon district were present during his visit. While stating that the MLAs are only seen accompanying chief minister, he said he was hoping that he could interact with the MLAs on issues concerning their area and people.

Acharya said the international border had nothing in reality. “What was meant for the people did not reach them,” he pointed out.

The people have not been taken care of and no one was ashamed of what was being done to the villagers, he said.

He lauded Rio for adopting Longwa village and for constructing the Angh’s Morung. Acharya appealed to all the MLAs and MP to follow suit by adopting villages for the uplift of the people and the economy.

Acharya said DC Mon informed had him that there was no budget sanctioned for the district for last five years (for roads) under PWD progrmame. To this, he said every district has been allocated budget and lamented that the MLA concerned was quite on the matter.

On his visit to Pangti village to see the Amur falcons, he said it was a similar situation like that in Longwa. The governor said there was nothing, “absolutely zero with horrible roads, no tea shop, toilets neither a place to stay”.

Acharya said while interacting with Pangti villagers, he was taken aback to learn that the government was not helping in anyway. He questioned as to who was siphoning the international funds that were coming in to develop the area, which was declared as the Amur falcon capital of the world.

He said he told the people “to get hold of the person who was siphoning all the money”. Acharya said he was also informed him that there was no Mid Day Meal scheme being provided to the government school students in the village.

While describing Pangti village as “a God blessed site”, he said Nagaland had all the 

The governor while being optimistic that permanent peace was coming soon to Nagaland, said talks are going on but development should not stop. Every MLA gets Rs. 1 crore as development fund, they should implement judiciously, he added. 

He further lauded the effort of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s step to check corruption and black money by scraping off Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes 

He said “PM has given a ‘Shock Treatment’ to the so called leaders be it politicians, bureaucrats or religious leaders who have collected crores of rupees. They will cry within 10 days as they will be exposed”.

It was an unimaginable revolutionary step taken by PM and the country will salute him one day, the governor said.

For the Hornbill Festival 2017, Acharya said he along with chief minister had requested Home minister Rajnath Singh to attend the first day of the festival and Assam chief minister Sarbananda Snowal the second or third day of the festival.

Further, he informed that vice chancellors of eight universities from across the country have been invited to attend the Hornbill festival.

Inviting people from various institutions to attend such festival would help in developing emotional and national integration and the social fabric, he added. 

The governor also disclosed that a team of 53 medical experts including 36 doctors, 10 lab experts, and seven other officials from Mumbai would be arriving Nagaland on November 25. The team will hold medical camps in Peren, Kohima, Mon, Wokha, Mokokchung and Dimapur and Naga prominent doctors would also be joining them, he said.