Naga People's Front Calls for "Alternative Arrangement" of Govt to Deal with COVID Crisis

Kohima, April 15, 2020:

Naga People's Front (NPF), the main opposition in Nagaland, has lashed out at the Neiphiu Rio led administration and sought an "alternate arrangement" from the Government it fails to effectively counter the new coronavirus or COVID-19.

The NPF has claimed that the aftermath of the detection of the first case that was made in Guwahati due to lack of testing labs in Nagaland "embarrassingly reflects its (the Government's) ineptness, lack of knowledge, lethargy and wavering political leadership even though it received cooperation from various quarters and huge funds from Delhi to fight against Covid menace."

"The recent media reports on the conditions of State’s health infrastructures, diagnostics labs, para medical equipment, and inadequate safety measures for health workers have enormously proved that the government is not doing enough" claimed the NPF, adding that the administration has to focus on mass testing, proper treatment and medication and ensure safety measures.

ALSO READ: How Assamese Students in Ukraine are Reconnecting with Home through Food amid Corona Lockdown

Chiding the Government for earlier claimed that it is prepared to tackle the crisis, the NPF said that frontliners are at risk due to inferior quality of protective materials. "Health workers including doctors even with protective and precautionary measures could be infected from patients directly or indirectly. There have been blame game doing rounds in media that Covid-19 Hospital Dimapur is not ready to admit any Covid patient and that there is no availability of funds for renovation of the hospital."

Hinting that the CM should step down, the Naga People's Front said that the government must immediately pave way for "alternate arrangement" of government instead of clinging on to seats.

The Naga People's Front has further claimed that despite receiving "sufficient funds", the ruling Government has been unable to step to effectively deal with the crisis. "Nagaland has received from the Centre its first instalment of Rs 20.50 crore under the State Disaster Response and Mitigation Fund (SDRMF) for the year 2020-21. The State government had said it would use 25 percent of the total amount for Covid-19 crisis. On April 3, the Ministry of Finance has also released Rs 32641.66 lakhs as grants-in-aid", the NPF informed.

ALSO READ: COVID-19: 6 Relatives & Helpers of Deceased Meghalaya Patient Test ‘Positive’

Terming the CM's seeking of donations as "ridiculous", the NPF pointed out that the state still lacks proper equipments and functional Convid-19 designated hospitals.

Urging the Government control room to monitor supply of essential commodities. There have been complaints of disruption of supply of essential commodities to many far-flung areas. All the essential commodities to the respective Hqs and destinations should also be checked of any contagion under strict supervision of medical experts lest virus transmit to people-to-people.

It appears that that government is outsourcing responsibilities and duties to non-state actors. There are instances that organizations and groups are over-ruling the decisions of the government and enforcing their own diktats in several parts of the state. This is leading the people to confusion.

The NPF further like to urge the government to make certain arrangement to let stranded students and travellers reach their villages. When Guwahati can be relaxed, why not some parts in Nagaland?

Support Inside Northeast (InsideNE), an independent media platform that focuses on Citizen-centric stories from Northeast India that are surprising, inspiring, cinematic and emotionally relevant.