The Civil Society Organisation (CSO), Mangkolemba, has sought an impartial investigation into what it describes as discrepancies in official records concerning the location of the Multipurpose Hall Mangkolemba.
At the centre of the issue is a difference between an official departmental circular that identifies the hall’s location as “Mangkolemba Town” and a subsequent Directorate of Youth Resources and Sports (YRS) letter stating that the project’s geo-tagged coordinates fall at Longtho Village under Mangkolemba Circle.
In its representation to the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mangkolemba, the CSO said the project has consistently been identified in the records available to it as “Multipurpose Hall Mangkolemba.”
Among the documents examined by the organisation are the Land Availability Certificate and NOC dated October 27, 2023, the Detailed Project Report (DPR), the PWD Work Order dated July 22, 2024, the YRS inauguration-related circular dated June 30, 2026, a letter issued by the Minister for Tourism & Higher Education on August 10 and the YRS Directorate’s letter dated August 11.
The PWD Work Order describes the work as “Construction of Multipurpose Hall at Mangkolemba, Mokokchung District.”
However, the CSO said the YRS Directorate’s August 11 letter gives a more specific description of the project site.
According to the letter, the Work Order mentioned “Mangkolemba” along with a designated geo-tagged location at Latitude 26°29’45.10″N and Longitude 94°22’13.53″E, and the location falls at Longtho, a village under the Mangkolemba Circle.
The CSO, however, said the coordinates do not appear on the PWD Work Order available to it.
It said the Work Order identifies the project as the construction of the multipurpose hall at Mangkolemba and separately refers to the contractor obtaining the work site and drawing from the concerned Executive Engineer.
The August 11 YRS letter, meanwhile, states that the DPR contained the specific geographical coordinates of the project site, that the coordinates were approved by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, and that the project was implemented at the designated geo-tagged location within the Mangkolemba administrative area.
Another point raised by the CSO concerns paragraph 7 of the same YRS letter.
The paragraph states that the project’s nomenclature was approved by the Ministry and remained “Multi Purpose Hall, Mangkolemba,” and that “the location has not been stated as Mangkolemba ADC HQ or Mangkolemba Town.”
The CSO has contrasted this with the department’s own inauguration-related circular dated June 30.
The circular, issued in connection with the inauguration of the completed project, identifies it as “Multipurpose Hall Mangkolemba” and expressly gives its location as “Mangkolemba Town.”
The CSO said this creates an apparent inconsistency: while the August 11 letter identifies the designated geo-tagged location as falling at Longtho Village, an official departmental circular issued for the inauguration of the same project records its location as Mangkolemba Town.
The organisation said it was not drawing any conclusion from the discrepancy but considered it a material fact requiring clarification.
The CSO also referred to statements made by Aren Enterprises, the executing firm named in the PWD Work Order.
According to the representation, during a joint meeting with the CSO on August 13, representatives of Aren Enterprises stated that “the location being referred to was wrong” or that the location where the multipurpose hall had been constructed “was not the correct/right location for the said project.”
The CSO, however, clarified that it was not interpreting this statement as necessarily referring to the geo-tagged coordinates mentioned in the August 11 YRS letter.
At a subsequent meeting on August 18, when Aren Enterprises was asked to identify or show the exact location where it had executed the work, Mr Imkong Imchen, a Class-I Contractor representing the firm, was “unable, or reluctant” to identify or show the exact location, according to the CSO.
Instead, he stated that the work had been carried out “according to the MoU and as instructed by the Department/Government,” the organisation said.
The CSO also acknowledged that the Project Monitoring Committee had undertaken verification and submitted its report on December 9, 2025, certifying 100% completion of the project, adding that it did not dispute or reject the certification.
The organisation said it is in possession of photographic and video evidence of the completed structure and its physical setting and would provide the material, along with relevant documents and meeting records, to any competent authority conducting the inquiry.
The CSO stressed that its representation was not intended to make any allegation against any person, department, contractor or authority, but to place the available facts before the competent authority and seek an independent determination of the actual position.
The immediate question raised by the records is therefore whether the references to “Mangkolemba Town” and the geo-tagged site at Longtho Village relate to the same approved project location, and how the different descriptions came to appear in official records.