DIMAPUR, NOV 25 (NPN) : Rising People’s Party (RPP) has accused the UDA government of fooling the public that it had no money to construct the Foothill Road, though the story is different. In a statement, RPP recalled that it had already stated in its previous press release that revenue accumulation through Goods and Services Tax (GST) was enough to complete the road project. To buttress its point, the party also furnished a table showing total revenue collection before and after the implementation of GST in 2017.
After the introduction of GST, RPP claimed that revenue collection tripled. The party said it assumed that the collection would cross Rs 1,000 crores in 2021-22, adding that if the GST collections of the last three/four years were aggregated, the amount would be in several thousands of crores of rupees.
For a small State like Nagaland, the party mentioned that this was a colossal amount and demanded to know from the government how was the GST money being utilised.
Given the GST collection, RPP termed the State government’s “grandiose statement” in September of being ready to release Rs 20 crore for the Foothill Road, which was a paltry amount, as nothing short of fooling the public. “It’s another story that the money is yet to be released,” it added.
According to RPP, the query before the Naga public was simple – were the MLAs aware of how the GST collection was being utilised? If yes, then the party said the MLAs should, for the sake of transparency, address the issue in public domain. If not, it asked whether the MLAs were prepared to raise the issue during the upcoming winter session of Nagaland Legislative Assembly for the sake of Foothill Road.
Till the Finance Department issued a proper clarification, RPP said the presumption was that thousands of crores of GST revenue continued to be mis-utilised, “money which is more than sufficient to complete the Foothill Road several times over”. RPP also held the chief minister responsible for delay in completing the Foothill Road.
NFHRCC asks dept to speed up tender process
DIMAPUR, NOV 24 (NPN): Nagaland Foothill Road Coordination Committee (NFHRCC) has appealed to the concern department to hasten the tendering process and issue work orders at earliest as the half of the working season was already over.
In a press note, NFHRCC convenor Supu Jamir, co-convenor Hokiye Yepthomi, general secretary W Lemba Chang and assistant general secretary Chenithung Humtsoe said that NFHRCC had been persistently urging the state government to make the foothills road pliable.
NFHRCC said that despite making commitments, the matter had been delayed for some time, which it maintained exhibited “lackadaisical attitude of the department.”
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