Mokokchung, 03 April (MTNews): The Association of Kohima Municipal Wards Panchayat (AKMWP), All Ward Union Mokokchung Town (AWUMT) and Dimapur Urban Council Chairman Federation (DUCCF) along with the Town Councils of Nagaland have expressed their appreciation to the government of Nagaland for repealing the Nagaland Municipal Act, 2001 in the recently concluded 1st session of the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly.
They have also appealed to the Nagaland government to take into consideration the social, customary and traditional practices of the Nagas as and when a new municipal law is drafted.
“The state is empowered by the 74th Amendment Act of the Indian constitution wherein the state can frame its own rules and regulations according to our state’s own applicability and practicability,” the AKMWP, AWUMT and DUCCF stated in a joint press release on Monday.
They further reminded the government to “draft our own Act without copy pasting from any other Municipals or Corporations of other states taking into consideration of our rights wherein the land in Nagaland belongs to the people unlike the land holding system in other states.”
“We appeal to the government to kindly include experts from various fields especially, protecting our rights without any infringement upon Article 371A of Indian constitution,” they added.
They also urged the Nagaland Government to expedite the process in framing the new Nagaland Municipal Act at the earliest “so as to let our citizens elect their own leaders within their wards to truly bring transformation.”