Nagas should work hard, says outgoing governor

Kohima, July 23 (MExN): The Governor of Nagaland, who has completed two and a half years in office, is being accorded a ceremonial send off on July 24, 3:00 pm at the Durbar Hall, Raj Bhavan, Kohima. This has been informed in a press release here. 

It stated that Sankaranarayanan said that the Nagas who are a loving people without reservations should work hard, for which he said that the word “development” was the most repeated word of his vocabulary. He also said that, in comparison to Jharkhand, which has 24 districts and also with internal problems still recieves Rs. 4,300 crores as revenue, whereas the Nagaland is still 78% a Consumer State. He said that he loved the people of Nagaland and called the Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio as “a good captain of the state”.

It said that  Sankaranarayanan will be flying to Ranchi on the July 25 as he has been transferred as Governor to Jharkhand  state which is currently under the President’s rule. 

Prior to that he was assigned to look after Arunachal Pradesh following a political crisis there and was made to look after Assam on the demise of its governor. “The humble, soft spoken, accessible and politician governor, had a busy schedule of appointments with numerous governmental agencies, statutory and social organisations in the state on July 23 including the state farewell dinner by the chief minister of Nagaland at the State Banquet Hall”, it stated.

The note also stated that the delegations from the ‘Indian Red Cross Society’ Nagaland state branch and the ‘Rajya Sainik Board’ Nagaland State, both of which the governor is the President, called on the governor, and expressed surprise over the pace of developments. The IRCS was particularly grateful for his initiative in establishing a corpus fund, towards which he had donated a seed money of Rs. 5.00 lakhs, which was then reciprocated by the Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio with Rs. 50.00 lakhs. The governor donated Rs. 1.00 lakh to this Corpus Fund, as a parting insurance of his well wished. The members of the IRCS led by Povotso Lohe expressed their wishful expectations from the governor, had he stayed on in the state. Meanwhile, the staff and ex-servicemen of the Rajya Sainik Board (Nagaland) also expressed gratitude for all the support extended to the board during his tenure for the welfare and upliftment of ex-servicemen, widows and their dependents. Lt. Col. S I Jakhalu (Retd), secretary of the Rajya Sainik board, in his farewell speech wished Sankaranarayanan a long life and best wishes in his new assignment. The governor expressed his great concern for the welfare of ex-servicemen, adding that they had given their prime youth for the service of the nation. Sankaranarayanan also apprised the staff and ex-servicemen of Rajya Sainik Board about the many welfare measures introduced by the Central government for serving and retired defence personnel.

Moreover, The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which had been pulled up quite often by the governor, also called upon his “Excellency” to pay their homage as their mentor, in the service of the nation and the state. Brigadier Balraj Singh, chief engineer accompanied by his officers, sought the advices and suggestions of the governor, for their future course of action, it stated.