Dimapur, August 20 (MExN): An ‘anti-corruption team’ of the Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organization (NVCO) and Kohima Law College today said to have decided to “fight against corrupt practices in the State especially in government sector such as misappropriation and diversion of public funds and utilizing by not following the rules and norms, and in private sectors especially while dealing with traders in their unfair means of practices be in price, quality, shortages in weight, adulteration, expiry goods, black-marketing etc.”
In this meeting held at Kohima Law College on August 20, the anti-corruption team took a number of decisions to appeal to civil society and government. The district administrations are asked to effectively implement standing orders banning illegal monetary collections. “The team assured government their full support as the team termed it as a menace to remove this menace if their main object before it becomes out of control,” the NVCO stated in a note received here today.
All the CEOs of municipal/town council institutions are asked to issue proper trade licenses only to genuine traders including butchers and ensure accuracy in weighting goods. The butchers in the State practice unfair means in weighting “as their habit” and the consumers continue to be cheated, the organizations reminded. Further, the deputy commissioners in the districts are told to effectively implement “their own orders not to allow using of LPG domestic connections in hotels, hostels and restaurants so as to avoid shortages of LPG supply and check black-marketing.”
The NVCO said that “consumers of few southern Angami villages complaint against exorbitant and non-uniformity of charges on LPG cooking gas(filled) stating that the various gas agencies such as Belho, Seyie and Marcofed charges Rs.550, Rs.500 & Rs.490 per filled cylinder respectively.”
The NPSC is also appealed to “reduce the exam fees since every NPSC applicant complaint against the charges of Rs.300 while submitting their forms for NPSC Prelims, 2012.” The UPSC conducts various examinations such as civil services, forest, engineering etc but there are no charges, the NVCO stated. “The few northeastern state public service commission charges from Rs.50/- to Rs.150/- as exam fees but they still maintain that the candidates belonging to SC/ST paid lesser than the general category.”
The NVCO also expressed support for the call for a CBI probe in the SARDP. “The probe is welcomed by the technocrats particularly the PWD (National Highway) Nagaland and it is their creation as the huge abnormal revised estimate was signed and submitted by the officials of PWD (NH) Nagaland where it increased from Rs.1130 crores to Rs.2988 crores,” the NVCO stated.
