Kohima, June 2: Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio has led an 11-member delegation to New Delhi in a last-ditch effort to avoid downsizing his ministry in accordance with the constitutional amendment that stipulates that the size of a government should not exceed 15 per cent of the Assembly’s strength.
Rio and his cabinet colleagues are to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to request him to exempt Nagaland from the purview of the Constitution’s 91st amendment. The deadline for downsizing is July 6. As and when the exercise is carried out, the size of the Nagaland ministry will be down to a mere 12 from 37.
Bureaucrats here are already speculating how the move will affect governance. “There might be more corporations and boards. Changes such as re-naming the forest ministry as environment ministry and including the horticulture department in the agriculture ministry are likely,” a source said.
A meeting of the council of ministers was held on May 28 to discuss such issues.
Nagaland has over 75 departments, almost half of them independent ministries. The ministers who will be omitted are likely to be appointed as the heads of the state corporations.
An official said the transport ministry might be retained, but the Nagaland State Transport wing might be converted into a corporation.
Chief secretary R.S.Pandey, however, refused to dwell on the possibilities. “There is still time and a long way to go,” he said, denying knowledge of the government’s contingency plans.
Last year, a delegation of ministers went to Delhi twice to seek an exemption from the constitutional amendment. They said Nagaland was a tribal society and all tribes needed equal representation in the ministry.