Our Correspondent
Kohima | January 26
Nagaland Governor K. Sankaranarayanan today drew attention to the quality of state and national highways. In his Republic Day address at the Nagaland Civil Secretariat ground here today, the Governor said that highest priority has been given to improving roads during “this short tenure of President’s Rule.” He said that “The lifeline of our economy is our roads as we do not have other means of transport in our state”.
The Governor also reminded that the role of community is very essential at it is viewed that in villages where people are aware and the councils are strong, even internal roads are properly maintained. “The same ownership of State Highways and national highways by the community seems to be the need of the hour,” he said adding that the rapid improvement of road networks and infrastructure would yield dividends with the ‘Look East Policy’ opening up the economy.
“This will ensure that our handicrafts, flowers, vegetables and agricultural products find markets beyond our boundaries. With the right market linkages, our farmers will be in position to increase their production and their incomes,” he said adding that with these goals in mind, highest priority has been given for the improvement of the roads. Touching on power sector, the Governor said that the present power requirement is 85 Mega Watts, much more than a meager 0.20 MW in 1963.
“The demand is likely to grow more with the educated youth coming up with new entrepreneurial ventures. The challenge is to bridge the gap between demand and supply,” he said. The Governor informed that he had taken up the matter with the central government for an additional allocation of 25 MW from the Eastern Grid. Steps being taken to bridge the gap on a permanent basis with augmentation of our own generation capacity bear fruit soon, he said.
“We have tremendous potential of Hydel Energy and the initiatives taken by NEPED with its Hydrogers projects need to be taken further,” he said adding that such can be done through public private partnerships with involvement of even multinational firms. Referring to water supply, Sankaranarayanan said that the state capital and other towns need special attention as with a rapidly growing urban population, “we have to devise and implement alternate means of water supply including use of water tankers in the lean season.”
Maintaining that Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has led to great improvements in universalizing primary education, the Governor said, “What we need is to use the funds received judiciously and effectively in order to create quality school buildings that can impart quality education to our students. With the support and cooperation of our teachers we can change the face of education in our state and attain 100 per cent literacy by 2010, he said. As a follow up of the IT Summit of DONER in Kohima, the Government of India has also approved setting up of Indian Institute of Information Technology in Dimapur. “Information Technology can be a big employer for our youth as our English speaking youthful population is ideal for employment in IT and IT enabled BPO industry,” he added.
On Industry, Sankaranarayanan sincerely prayed to God for the early commissioning of Tuli Paper Mill, “which will bring in a new era of Growth and Development of our state.”
Two SEZs (Special Economic Zone) are also on the anvil- A multi product SEZ in the private sector and a product specific SEZ in the public Sector,” he said. “There has also been a lot of interest evinced by countries like Thailand and Korea and their presence in the state is becoming more and more visible every day.”
