Rio urges media to complement Govt efforts

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio called upon the media fraternity in the State to work hand in hand with the government to make value- based society where freedom, rights and responsibility would find their true meaning.

Inaugurating the new building of the State Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) here, Rio also announced setting up of a Journalists Welfare Fund as per recommendation of a government appointed committee.

The Chief Minister said the Cabinet would soon take a decision to operationalise this new welfare measures for the media people in Nagaland, but he asserted that publication of news alone is not the mandate of a free press but it has a moral duty to mould a better society.

The staff of the directorate now housed in a dilapidated and congested structure in the heart of the town will soon be shifted to the new sprawling building, constructed at a cost of nearly Rs 7 crore adjacent to the Nagaland Civil Secretariat.

Meanwhile, an apex Naga students’ body has demanded the intervention of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio into alleged backdoor appointments in certain government departments that debarred thousands of job-seekers from facing open competition for recruitments in Nagaland.

In a memorandum to Rio, Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) also demanded immediate quashing of the government notification which sought to regularise those contract and ad hoc employees who were in service for three years.

Pointing out that recent anomalies in appointments in two government departments, NSF insisted that such back door recruitments should be done away with since there were thousands of educated unemployed youth equipped to face any competitive examination in the state.

The memorandum alleged that 40 back door appointments made by the state power department through an official order in September deprived many eligible candidates from appearing in open and transparent recruitment process.

Referring to the advertisement issued by the home department (police services), NSF alleged the department was “clandestinely recruiting candidates in the 14th IRB to fill up posts”.

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