Dimapur, September 10 (MExN): Former chief of the Dimapur Municipal Council K Khekaho Assumi today issued a statement clarifying on the reported liabilities the council is said to have incurred over time amounting to over Rs. 2 Crore. The liabilities reportedly broached on construction and provident funds.
The clarification from Khekaho said the same issue was brought up last year and the government had deputed an inquiry from the Urban Development department “everything was looked into as far as the civic body’s function was concerned,”
Assumi said in the clarification that fees were ‘realized’ from all the “allottees” for construction of RCC buildings taking into consideration prevalent rates of raw materials. The process of construction started way back in October-November 2007. Former chairman Y Vikheho Awomi who was the then-chairman of the DMC started the construction. Till March 2008 the price of cement and MS rods was Rs. 220 to Rs. 240 for a bag and Rs. 2200 to Rs 2500 for a quintal respectively, Assumi stated.
With the change of guard in April 2008, the new DMC team headed by K Khekaho Assumi carried out construction works, the statement said. “It was then in June-July 2008 there was massive price escalation of construction materials where the price of cement shot up by Rs. 350 to Rs. 360 per bag and the price of MS Rod almost doubled and shot-up to around Rs. 4000 per quintal,” Assumi stated.
He said that the construction fees were realized only for the ground floor ‘and not as mentioned.’ The fact is, he said, although only the construction fees for the ground floor was collected in the “fish market construction,” of the first and second floor “is also nearing completion and the open vegetable market is also nearing the completion f the first floor.”
In regard to the DMC staffers’ provident fund, K Khekaho said there was a backlog of around Rs. 38 lakh. Since the inquiry committee headed by the Secretary of Urban Development “had pulled up the then chairman DMC last year for non-clearance of the provident fund, half of the backlog was cleared in October 2009,” he stated. “It is not as alleged but the fact is, DMC has no separate fund for payment of provident fund and at times it is even difficult to manage the salary so there is no question of mismanaging the provident fund,” Assumi stated.
The former chairman said he and his team had stated “everything is in black and white” whether the matter is about money for constructions or for the provident fund. The same issue was brought up even last year, he said. “…the government had deputed an enquiry commission headed by the Secretary of the Urban Development, Government of Nagaland and everything was looked into as far as the civic body’s function was concerned,” Khekaho added.
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