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wednesdAY • MArch 23 • 2016
DIMAPUR • Vol. XI • Issue 80 • 12 PAGes • 5
T H e
ESTD. 2005
There is no duty more obligatory than the repayment of kindness WCS & Forest Dept dispel fears of a second tiger in Medziphema
P o W e R
T R u T H
— Cicero
Indian Wells tennis chief quits in gender storm
FGN observes 61st Republic Day
PAGe 02
o F
PAGe 05
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IS attacks on Brussels kill 35 Respond by March 29:
BRUssEls, MARCH 22 (AFP): A series of explosions claimed by the Islamic State group ripped through Brussels airport and a metro train Tuesday, killing around 35 people in the latest attacks to bring bloody carnage to the heart of Europe. Two huge blasts, at least one of which prosecutors said was likely caused by a suicide bomber, rocked the check-in hall at Zaventem Airport. More than 200 people were wounded in Tuesday’s bloodshed. Belgian authorities had been on alert after Abdeslam, Europe’s most wanted man, told investigators he had been planning an attack on Brussels. An online news agency affiliated with IS said the group was behind the attacks. “Islamic State fighters carried out a series of bombings with explosive belts and devices on Tuesday, targeting an airport and a central metro station in the centre of the Belgian capital Brussels, a country participating in the international coalition against the Islamic State,” the Aa-
A person is carried to safety as troops helped the injured and secured the area after the explosions in the terminal building. (AP Photo)
maq news agency said. Hundreds of flights and trains were cancelled as security across Europe was tightened after the bombings, which Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel branded “blind, violent and cowardly”. “This is a day of tragedy, a black day,” Michel said. His spokesman announced three days
of national mourning. Shortly after the airport blasts hit at around 8:00am (0700 GMT), a third explosion rocked Maalbeek metro station, in the heart of the city’s EU quarter. There are fears more suspects could still be at large in Brussels, home to the headquarters of both NATO and the European Union, Belgian For-
eign Minister Didier Reynders warned. Pierre Meys, spokesman for the Brussels fire brigade, told AFP at least 14 people had been killed at the airport, while Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur said “around 20” died in the underground blast. “A man shouted a few words in Arabic and then I
heard a huge blast,” airport baggage security officer Alphonse Lyoura told AFP, his hands bloodied. An army team later blew up a suspect package at the shuttered airport, with media reporting police had found an unexploded suicide vest. Authorities later said a third bomb had failed to explode at the airport. “The whole of Europe has been hit,” said French President Francois Hollande, whose country is still reeling from November’s Paris attacks. British Prime Minister David Cameron warned of the “very real” terrorist threat faced by countries across Europe. US President Barack Obama said Washington stood with Belgium in the face of the “outrageous” attacks. “We will do whatever is necessary to support our friend and ally Belgium in bringing to justice those who are responsible, and this is yet another reminder that the world must unite,” Obama said. Related story on page 9
Remove leniency towards proxy teachers: SKK
DIMAPUR, MARCH 22 (MExN): The Sumi Kiphimi Kuqhakulu (SKK) has written to the Nagaland State Education Minister to increase efforts in tackling the menace of proxy teachers in government schools of the state. The SKK said that “lenient attitude” towards offenders is one of the major contributory factors that hinder a solution to this problem. “As long as the system is left in the web of complication unheeded, futures of the affected students shall continue to keep on miserably compromising,” the SKK cautioned. It proposed a strategy framed in the form of ‘MISSION- doing right,’
which the SKK said would “encompass the above subject as the epicenter to flush out proxy teacher system and allied offences in all the Sumi inhabited area.” It however called for the Department to effectively reciprocate the SKK’s initiative with stringent disciplinary action without fair or favor. It asked that the government introduce and implement biometric teacher attendance. The SKK further said GHSS/GHS/GMS/ GPS teachers keeping proxy in their respective place of posting should be immediately suspended for one academic year without granting sustenance allowance while School Management Com-
mittee concerned be immediately dissolved and re-constituted. It urged immediate appointment of qualified and dedicated substitute teachers in place of the suspended teacher under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner concerned. The suspended teachers, it added must be reinstated “only after signing an agreement to be loyal & faithful to the profession and expression of willingness to be terminated without notice in the event of repeating the offence.” Habitual absentee teachers, it demanded must be awarded immediate withhold of one annual increment with cumulative effect.
The SKK further asked that the government ensure timely payment of all the government teachers irrespective of the nature of appointment. It called for immediate initiatives for the grant of special allowance to the teachers posted to exceptionally difficult & remote areas. The SKK then urged that rampant transfer/posting of teachers in the mid-academic session be brought under control; and genuine grievances of the teaching community if identified in the process of pursuing the said mission be heeded with all seriousness and prompt necessary action to that effect be taken.
DNSU to Nagaland Govt
• Threatens to block stretch between Airport and Central Jail • Blockade to continue till Math teacher deputed in GHS Diphupar Morung Express News Dimapur | March 22
With the Nagaland School Education Department failing to depute a Math teacher to GHS Diphupar till date, the Diphupar Naga Students’ Union (DNSU) said the union is ready to launch its second phase agitation – blockade of the highway stretch between Dimapur Airport and Central Jail. At a press conference on Tuesday, DNSU members said they would resort to blockade of the highway stretch if the department failed to give a positive response by March 29. “The blockade will continue till a Math teacher is deputed to GHS Diphupar”, said DNSU members. It may be mentioned GHS Diphupar has been running without a Math teacher since September 2015 after cross transfer of the school’s the lone Math teacher. On March 8, DNSU staged a peaceful agitation demanding immediate deputation of a Math teacher to GHS Diphupar. The agitation was suspended after the School Education department assured DNSU that the department had already initiated transfer of a Math teacher to GHS Diphupar. A copy of an order dated March 7, 2016, signed by Additional Director, School Education, stated that “Pallab Bhaumick, G/T (Maths) GHSS Dimapur, is hereby transferred to GHS Diphupar on temporary measure until such time the Government provides regular G/T (Maths) at GHS Diphupar.” “We waited for a couple of days, but since the teacher did not report for duty, we enquired the Deputy DEO, Dimapur, and the latter also expressed surprise”, said DNSU President Sakulemba Jamir. DNSU also furnished copies of a letter (dated March 10, 2016), written by the Principal, GHSS Dimapur to the Director, School Education. The letter stated, “Pallab Bhaumick, G/T (Maths) GHSS Dimapur is hereby deputed to GHS Diphupar on temporary adjustment w.e.f 14.03.2016. Whereby, Pallab
A musical chair of transfers and cross transfers
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ven as many government schools continue to reel under acute shortage of specific subject teachers, the School Education Department seems to be playing musical chair with regard to transfer and crosstransfer of teachers. According to DNSU, GHS Diphupar has also excess of teachers barring Math subject. Adding to the irony, as students of GHS Diphupar and DNSU agitate for a Math teacher, the School Education department recently transferred two teachers from Zunheboto to GHS Diphupar. “While we are demanding for at least two Mathematics teachers, the department has instead transferred two teachers (general subject) from Zunheboto to the school. This is ridiculous as the school is overstaffed but without a single Math teacher,” a DNSU member said. “Political” transfer and cross transfer of teachers seems to be the root cause of the utter mess within the department. Bhaumick (Maths) will be reverted back to GHSS Dimapur as when Govt. provides regular G/T (Maths) to GHS Diphupar.” “We again waited for some days but still the teacher failed to turn up so we had to contact the DDEO again. The DDEO explained that she had done all she could from her end and that it was now up to the higher authority to take the final action,” the DNSU President said. The DDEO Dimapur in a letter (dated March 16, 2016) to the Director, School Education, informed that the teacher had not joined GHS Diphupar till date. The DDEO in the letter further requested the authority “to look into the matter at the earliest so as not to create more problems at the said school and avoid further agitation by the students and public of Diphupar.” According to DNSU, the said teacher has not reported for duty till Monday. DNSU said it would be compelled to launch the second phase agitation taking into account the plight of the students. The union also called upon public in general to understand the gravity of the situation and offer suggestions to protect the interest of the students.
World Water day in nagaland
As water recedes in Nagaland, market floats Morung Express News
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Dimapur / Kohima / Mokokchung | March 22
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Like the rain fed crops of the rural, Nagaland’s urban sector is slowly becoming rain fed too. In commercial capital Dimapur, many people have either been using muddy water from drying ring wells, or plugging into a neighbour’s water supply since January this year. Dry months of March and April exacerbate the pain. With no government water supply lines connecting a majority of households in Dimapur, people have resorted to digging (deeper into) ring/ tube wells and bore wells to feed water demands from the Earth’s water table. Some have even turned it into profitable business. March 22 was World Water Day, an international observance initiated by the United Nations to create an opportunity to learn more about water related issues, be inspired to tell others and take action to make a difference. “We plan to bore further down into our well to access water. Hygiene and sanitation at home have been severely affected due to water shortage these past couple of months,” said Atula, a teacher and a
‘Technical problems’ hinder Mokokchung water supply
(LEFT) Woman draws muddy water from a ring/tube well in Dimapur as the dry season sets in and government supply remains missing. (RIGHT) Containers filled with water and kept to be sold at a colony in Dimapur where most of the tube wells have dried up. (Morung Photos)
mother of two. As scarcity hits life, demand drives prices up—of services, to begin with. Atula has already spent a good sum on first repairing the water pump that stopped drawing water, then getting the well cleaned and now on boring further. On the other hand, as droughts continue to increase in severity, water is becoming valuable. At Old Industrial Estate in Dimapur, for instance, many of the ring/tube wells have dried up since January. Its residents have resorted to buying water from those who have water in their wells. Lanumeren, a resident of Old Industrial Estate, had sensibly dug a 180 feet tube-well, deep enough to pump water up even
during dry seasons. Making brisk business, he sells three containers of the water for Rs 10. “There are more than 10 families in the surrounding area whose wells have dried out. I supply water to them for a nominal rate,” Lanumeren informed. According to him, there are also people from adjoining ADC Court area buying water from him. “Earlier, tube wells would normally dry up during the months of March and April. It has been a couple of years now that many people are seeing their wells drying up by January,” Lanumeren noted. Similarly, water scarcity has also hit a number of homes in Duncan Bosti area. It may be noted that these areas were heav-
ily forested till only two to three decades ago. Due to large scale deforestation in Nagaland, water sources are drying up, confirmed Er. Kevisekho Kruse, Chief Engineer, Department of Public Health Engineering (PHED) Nagaland, at a World Water Day commemoration by the PHED at the Conference Hall of the Office of the Executive Engineer, Kohima Rural Division, Tsiepfü Tsiepfhe Colony, Kohima. While groundwater is available it does not guarantee providence in the future, he noted. Even though repeated appeals have been made to reduce forest destruction, people are not listening anymore. “We are wiping out our forests. What are we going to give to our children and grand-
children?” asked Er. Kruse, while briefing people on the natural process of restoring water in forests and the impacts of pollution, deforestation, global warming, and climate change. Deforestation coupled with mindless and heartless urbanisation has led to the water crisis being felt with increased severity. The Chief Engineer admitted how Kohima is left with little to no options to cater to the ballooning population of the State’s capital. Even where there is water, though, people are hoarding. A worker in the electrical department living in Nagaland Power House in Dimapur’s Nagarjan said they get water through the PHED but it is irregular. For the past two dry weeks, the crisis has deepened. Indi-
vidual households have installed motors in their houses, pulling as much water as they can from the common supply source. This leaves little for those who cannot afford motors, and most residents have now resorted to square one—digging wells. Expressing concern, PHED’s Er. Kruse, while admitting difficulty to provide sufficient water due to scarcity and environmental concerns, has stressed on rain water harvesting and urged people to initiate innovative ideas through low cost technology to solve the problems of water in the State. After all water, as he put it, is “collective responsibility” and its privatisation will affect Nagaland in perverse ways in the future. Related news on page 5
ccess to safe water in Mokokchung remains a perennial problem. Some local entrepreneurs make brisk business during the lean season by selling ‘safe’ water while some private water distributors have developed their own system of water system lately. While the well off have dug their own wells or invested in bore wells, and despite the existence of several natural water springs in the town, the problem of water scarcity remains unresolved. Piped water supply to Mokokchung town solely rests with the PHED. Piped water supply to the town was first provided by the department in 1964 when the town’s population was just 6000 and it was sourced from Minkong. Then in 1988, the department initiated a multistage pumping scheme from Dikhu River and during 1999-2000, the much talked about Techipami water supply scheme was sanctioned for an estimated cost of Rs.1000.53 lakhs which was completed in 2005 with an expenditure of Rs.1003.30 lakhs. The Techipami project, however, has been a failure as the department has not been able to regularly supply water sourced from there. The department has time and again cited “technical problems” for not being able to provide regular water supply from this pipeline. While the Dikhu project has been abandoned, the “average total volume of water,” sourced from Minkong, is 200000 litres per day while that of Techipami source is estimated to be 400000 lpd but the latter is not regular owing to the cited “technical problems.” The PHED has seen ten Executive Engineers since the commencement of the Techipami project and more than 15 years have gone by but the “technical problems” still remain unresolved and the people are yet to have access to regular water supply from this source. Assuming that the total volume of water supplied to Mokokchung town is 6 lakh litres per day combining Minkong and Techipami sources, the people of Mokokchung town on average are barely surviving on less than 15 litres per head per day. However, the case is that daily water supply is not happening.