Morung Express News
August 12
Dimapur: State Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio inaugurated the Sainik Bhavan at Dimapur today. He was accompanied by Parliamentary Secretary Hewoto Awomi. The programme was chaired by Deputy Commissioner, Dimapur V. Hekali Zhimomi. Brigadiers Jasjit Singh, V Bhatnagar and S P Katwa were also present on the occasion besides Colonel Pradhan and Colonel Anal.
The Chief Minister in his speech affirmed the help and support of the State government towards welfare schemes meant for ex-servicemen and their families. He urged them to take advantage of the various schemes offered to them. He disclosed that two polyclinics for ex-servicemen and their families would be set up in Kohima and Dimapur in the near future. He further informed that one had to register their names into the polyclinics to avail of these medical facilities.
Rio told the gathering that he had earlier met the Director General of Assam Rifles. The latter had held consultations with the Chief Minister on the issue of exemption of Value Added Tax on CSD canteens. A collective decision to this effect was in the offing and would be arrived at after taking into consideration the views of other North East leaders. He said that Nagaland would be yielding even more ex-servicemen in the future and as such the setting up of the rest house could not have come at a better time. It may be noted that Nagaland, at present, has around 3800 ex-servicemen of the army. The Chief Minister, while bringing out his emotional facet, confided that even he came from a family of an ex-serviceman. His father had been in the army and had also served as a Training Instructor, in the army cantonment at Happy Valley, Shillong. He also spoke of Governor Shyamal Dutta’s concern and contribution towards the construction of the Bhavan. Rio handed over an amount of Rs.1 lakh to the ex-servicemen.
It may be mentioned that the Sainik Bhavan (referred to as a ‘Dream House’ by ex-servicemen of Nagaland) came into existence through the hard work of Rtd. Colonel Jakhalu and other ex-servicemen. This endeavour, according to Jakhalu, had been pursued for twenty five years. The DC of Dimapur played a substantial role in the construction of the Bhavan. When previous DCs had not been successful in evicting the encroachers who had illegally settled on the land earmarked for the construction of the rest house, Hekali, along with Police officials, had successfully evicted these intruders.
The Sainik Bhavan was built at a cost of around Rs.25.35 lakhs. Rokosalie, the contractor completed the construction works within a span of eight months.
