On War footing to improve roads in Kohima, Dimapur city
Our Correspondent
Kohima | February 21
Nagaland’s Governor PB Acharya said that improvement of road communication is essential for boosting socio-economic development of the state.
Stating this in his address to the 3rd session of 13th NLA here today, Acharya said projects are being taken up through Special Road Programmes, NABARD-RIDF, PMGSY and GOI funding under Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.
During 2018-19, vital road connectivity from NH-29 at Burma Camp to Lahorijan River with a Major Bridge of 30 metres span has been completed.
Additional roads of 795 km stretch have been approved “in principle” to be brought under National Highways. Two-laning of NH-02 Botsa-Wokha, Yisemyong to Unger, improvement works at Kohima and Dimapur city portion road are taken up on war footing, he said.
Governor said that the state government has been pursuing with Government of India for approval of the Greenfield airport at Ciethu, Kohima.
In order to augment air services for the state, three new routes were taken up under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (UDAN) and very soon Dimapur will be connected with Guwahati, Imphal and Dibrugarh, he said.
“We have got approvals for two helicopters now and all district headquarters are better connected now which is helping citizens, especially for medical cases,” he said.
For rail connectivity, in the Union Budget 2019-20, a sum of Rs 500 crore has been allocated for connecting Dimapur with Kohima, he said.
Rural development
He said Nagaland lives in the villages and rural development with creation of jobs and strengthening of rural infrastructure is a must for our economy to grow in an equitable manner.
He said that under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India has approved 127 lakh persons for the State of Nagaland amounting to Rs 315 crore.
Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana — National Rural Livelihoods Mission has been taken up in 639 villages under 43 Blocks in 9 Districts.
4545 Self Help Groups are actively engaged in income generating activities covering 42,200 households.
Under Phase-III RURBAN Mission, Kohima Sardar cluster comprising of Kohima Village, Chedema and Chedema Model has been taken up during 2018-19.
Administrative fund for Rs 35 lakh have been released for preparation of Integrated Cluster Action Plan (ICAP), he said.
Economic development in Eastern Nagaland
Governor said that PDA Government accords special importance to economic development in the Eastern Nagaland region.
Towards this objective, the DUDA department has established Anghya Market Linkage hubs in all the district HQs of Mon, Tuensang, Longleng, Kiphire and created the "ANGHYA" brand and labels for packaging/marketing and linkages with outlets in and outside the State which is under process.
Special Tutorial Centres have been introduced for Class X students/Sainik School entrance test.
On November 9, 2018, a Cabinet Meeting was convened in the Aspirational District of Kiphire wherein it was decided to extend the model of better monitoring and supervision of Government and Schemes to all districts by identifying one Aspirational Block in each of the remaining ten districts.
For Kiphire district, a corpus of Rs 1 crore has been set up for taking up projects to meet developmental gaps. On January 7, this year, International Trade Fair and Expo was inaugurated in Mon district with an objective to promote trade, business and entrepreneurship in the district.
More than 160 participants put up stalls in the Expo including some from Nepal & Bhutan.
A mega camp for distributing appliances and aids to the differently enabled was organized in Mon district on February 18 this year, Governor said.
Power
Augmentation of power supply to bridge the critical gaps between demand and supply of power has been taken up by upgradation of existing 100 MVA to 200 MVA at Dimapur, Governor said.
Laying of 220KV D/C Transmission line from Dimapur - Zhadima is in good progress.
100% Household electrification in Rural & Urban areas under SAUBHAGYA Scheme has been completed in December 2018.
Water supply
Augmentation of Water Supply to Wokha town and New Peren District HQ has been commissioned.
The Zaru project for augmenting the Water Supply to Kohima is ready for commissioning.
