Collapse in Governance: Therie urges for reforms in Nagaland

Dimapur, June 5 (MExN): The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) President K Therie has urged the state government machinery to work together to bring serious reforms in the state of Nagaland.

In a press release on Saturday, Therie attributed the uncontrolled price hike in Nagaland to ‘collapse in governance,’ and called upon the Administration, Police and Judiciary to work together to restore law and order and control price hike by forming independent pricing commission with taxes, weights and measures and other departments and agencies concerned, beginning from Dimapur, the commercial capital of Nagaland.

According to Therie, the Chief Secretary of Nagaland was expecting a fall in prices with the removal of check gates inside Nagaland. However, he observed that it has not happened on the ground as “Internal gate extortions were only transferred to wholesalers and retailers.” He said that more actions are required to bring down the price hike while underscoring that “The basis of price hike is compounded with corruption and extortion by all the organs, agencies, registered societies, unions, associations, and insurgents.”

He also demanded removal of interstate check gates in view of GST and VAT.

Appealing for coordinated efforts to restore law and order in the State, Therie stated that the Essential Commodities Act and Weights and Measures Act that sustain prices are no longer known to the people, and instead, “Illegal extortion by societies and insurgents are deeply rooted and has replaced the law in Nagaland.”

Among others, Therie also pointed out that Societies, Unions and Associations have been taking law and order into their own hands by undertaking enforcement upon soft targets from amongst the traders, instead of practicing defined welfare objectives to encourage, promote and preserve high standards amongst people. “There is complete freedom of abusing and intimidating business houses and retailers as we have seen in multiple viral video clips,” he alleged.

‘Law and order has collapsed’
Therie went on to state that law and order has collapsed in Nagaland as the “executive machineries do not go by the book of law,” but rather by “verbal dictates of Ministers and MLAs.”

He also observed that coordinated efforts in enforcing law and customary laws are no more the practice and Village Councils and GBs who are expected to deal with law and order effectively with customary laws and procedures are often found lacking in upholding the Constitution and the Customary law which is a sovereign authority of the State of Nagaland.

“Upon failure of customary law, it is the responsibility of the Administration to enforce the law of the land,” but they end up blaming each other and in between the public are left unprotected, Therie stated.

The NPCC President also put the State Government in the line of fire stating that it has “lost control for the past two decades.”

“Extortion and corruption are firmly rooted from top to bottom… Words like percentage, commission, cut, our government tax (not people’s Government tax), have all been coined during two decades’ rule and these have become the law and practiced as conventional law,” he said.

To buttress his point, Therie underlined that the State Legislative Assembly’s failures are mighty as Nagaland has “not seen new laws to deal with an evolving society and the growth of economy.”

He also observed that civil societies and NGOs, though they “make a hue and cry in local papers,” have been hypocritical when it comes to tackling issues of corruption in the state. He further stated that the Church well understands the predicament and therefore has launched the clean election campaign, but now “voters want to take directly from candidates and so demand house to house visits defying the Church.”

Trust deficit
Meanwhile, Therie stated that even the judiciary has earned a huge trust deficit as criminals no longer fear to repeat crimes. “Deliberate delay and lethargic process of litigation and weak judgments are responsible for people rushing their aggrieved cases to insurgent courts for speedy judgments and accept even wrong judgments,” he stated, expressing shock “to learn that all accused in the attempt of Dr SC Jamir assassination at Piphema were acquitted.” If the judiciary cannot deliver justice, we are inviting dictatorship, mafias and organised criminals to do justice, he added.

Stating that there are lawful ways to finance developmental activities, Therie further underscored the need to amend the attitude of Government machineries, guardians of Customary Law, Civil Societies, Unions, Associations, who should work together in the interests of safety and security of the life and properties of citizens. “They must coordinate to implement common objectives in enforcing the law of the land,” emphasises.

The public should learn to trust the law and order agencies through coordinated efforts like stopping all illegal collections, extortions and unauthorised groups from taking law into their own hands, he asserted.

Source: https://www.morungexpress.com/collapse-in-governance-therie-urges-for-reforms-in-nagaland