Kohima, August 22: Fresh landslide has occurred between Mao Gate and Kohima on Saturday evening. The landslide occurred near Kigwema but the authorities are clearing it on war-footing.Meanwhile, prices of essential commodities in the Nagaland capital Kohima are sky-rocketing due to the scarcity of the goods.Though the detailed reports in this regard have not been obtained, it is said that there have been scarcity of food items and fuel in the Nagaland capital.The disruption of traffic had started since August 13 evening.The main factor for the scarcity of goods in Kohima is due to the sinking of the National Hoghway-39 near KMC dumping ground which is few kilometres from Kohima towards Dimapur.The number of goods trucks stranded on the NH-39 between Kohima and Dimapur bound for either Manipur or Kohima are increasing everyday.Some reports said that the number of loaded trucks stranded along the NH-39 has crossed one thousand mark today.Some vehicles are taking the By-Pass route but drivers of the loaded vehicles/heavy vehicles do not want to risk themselves in this alternative route since the condition is bad.Meanwhile, the Border Road Organisation (BRO) officials said that they may take atleast 10 days to mend the road as the distance of the re-alignment of the NH-39 in the ‘sinking zone’ is some 350 metres.However, if the rains continue the time to fully revert the NH-39 will be longer than slated.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Mizo CM’s RTI statement flayed
AIZAWL, Aug 23 – Aizawl-based anti-corruption watchdog People’s Right to Information and Development Implementing Society of Mizoram (PRISM) has criticised Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla for stating that there was no need to appoint a State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC).Lal Thanhawla recently had said that there was no urgent need to appoint an SCIC as the people of Mizoram did not fully utilise the Right to Information Act and appointing an SCIC would be a waste of public money.Reacting to the Chief Minister’s statement, PRISM president Vanlalruata said that the RTI Act had been well utilised in Mizoram and a number of corruption cases unearthed by the people. “PRISM alone organised social audits in nine villages and has filed a number of public interest litigations in the Gauhati High Court, all based on information acquired invoking the RTI Act,” Vanlalruata said.He alleged that full utilisation of the RTI Act could not be done because the State Government refused to implement the section 4 of the Act and was not keen to create public awareness as demanded by the section of the Act.The PRISM also flayed the Congress Government in the State for failing to constitute the State Vigilance Commission as promised in the party’s manifesto in the 2008 Assembly polls. – PTI
