Nagaland Post: Dimapur: Monday, September 12, 2016.
Expressing
serious concern over the delay in reviving the Nagaland Pulp & Paper Mill
(NPPC) at Tuli, Central Nagaland Students’ Association (CNSA) has threatened to
take the matter to the court by filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) or
approach the concerned Ministry.
In a press
note, CNSA president Charles Lotha and general secretary Yimlanger Jamir said
CNSA would be compelled to take up further action unless and until the
concerned authorities show sincerity in their works towards the speedy revival
of the NPPCL.
CNSA said it
had sought information from the NPPCL and the directorate of Industries &
Commerce on two occasions. However, as per the RTI reply from NPCCL, it said,
out of the Rs. 100 crore sanctioned by Ministry of Heavy Industries as first
installment in 2013, “only Rs. 34 crores (approx) was utilized towards various
projects”.
In this
regard, CNSA has questioned Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd as to “why only Rs
34 crores was utilized out of Rs.100 crores in three years time (2013-2016)?”
CNSA also
referred to Nagaland chief minister, T.R Zeliang’s statement published on May
31, 2016 that “out of Rs 100 crores released by the Ministry of Heavy
Industries in 2013, Rs 60 crores was diverted by HPC Ltd”.
CNSA has
sought details from HPCL and to declare how the Rs 60 crores had been utilized
and said “if the money has not been utilized for NPPCL, it would initiate its
own course of action, even to the extent of approaching the Ministry.”
CNSA said it
was also dismayed by the RTI reply of NPPCL, seeking ‘exemption under Sec. 8
(1) (d) & (g) of RTI Act 2005’ not to divulge names of the ‘companies
contracted for the revival of the NPPC-Tuli’.
While
pointing out that NPPCL is a government project and the only heavy industry in
Nagaland, CNSA was of the opinion that HPC Ltd was not serious about the
revival of NPPCL if it felt that such queries were not in the “larger public
interest that warrants the disclosure of such information”.
As three
years have elapsed since the Government of India declared and sanctioned funds
for revival work, CNSA expressed doubts over whether HPCL had “some hidden
agenda or dirty politics being played to deliberately stall the much awaited
revival of NPPCL, Tuli”.
CNSA also
questioned the state government’s sincerity towards the revival of the NPPCL.
It said the Industries and Commerce department response to the RTI query was
that the state government had instructed various departments to undertake works
like power supply, dam, roads etc. However, CNSA said the state government
could not provide the “hard copy of the project report, the amount sanctioned
and the progress report of the projects entrusted to the different
departments”.
In this
regard, CNSA has demanded the state government to make it known to the public
about the project reports and progress at the earliest. CNSA said its members
had also visited NPPCL, Tuli in 2015 and interacted with the officials. Though
it was declared that NPPCL would be functional by 2017, CNSA said “the slow-paced
work, the alleged diversion of Rs. 60 crores and the seeming insincerity of
HPCL clearly indicated that the lofty promises of NPPCL revival was nothing but
just a pipe-dream.”
Making it
known that NPPCL belonged to the Nagas, CNSA said it would not tolerate such
attitude at any cost and demanded the revival of the mill at the earliest.
It said NPCCL
would not only bring in economical benefits, but employment opportunities for the
Naga people, particularly the educated unemployed youths.
CNSA said
“just because of the lackadaisical attitude of the HPCL, and the apparent
negligence of the Nagaland government, the NPPCL revival works will never be
allowed to be stalled or stopped”.
.JPG)
.JPG)
