Morung Express News
February 9
Kohima: An important milestone in the history of Raj Bhavan will appear on February 11 when Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio dedicates the same building from 1500 hours.
When Nagaland became the sixteenth state of the Indian Union on December 1, 1963, the three-bedroom hill type house of the Commissioner (Naga Hills), constructed in 1957, with a plinth area of 4, 400 sq ft, was converted into Raj Bhavan. This did not pose a problem in the beginning as the Governor of Nagaland has responsibilities for other states also.
The Governor used to discharge joint responsibilities from Shillong with occasional visits to Nagaland. This changed when Dr. Gopal Singh became the first exclusive Governor of Nagaland in 1989. He gave a face-lift to the old bamboo and wooden structure in 1990. Governor Generals (Retd). KV Krishna Rao, ON Srivastava and OP Sharma added a new building in the Raj Bhavan complex to meet various functional requirements, but they continued to live in the old Raj Bhavan building.
The building was not equipped to cope with the visits of the VVIPs to Nagaland. The constraints became increasingly visible during the visit of the President of India to Kohima in 2002 and the Prime Minister in 2003. Therefore, it was decided a new Raj Bhavan should be built, source said.
Keeping in view the long tem requirement of the highest constitutional office in the state, it was decided to construct a two-storied building with a plinth area of 12, 514 sq ft, incorporating various facilities.
The state PWD, the executing agency, floated the tender and the work was awarded to MS VASCON, a reputed construction company at Kohima at an estimated cost of Rs. 5.02 crore. The building was designed by M/S Planning Consortium, Guwahati. The civil works commenced in April 2004.
The new Raj Bhavan blends modernity with tradition. The entrance of the new building is clad with stones brought from the famous Khonoma village. The main door has been designed with Naga motifs by Lanu Pongen, master craftsman. Use of polycarbonate material for the raised part of the roof, painted acrylic panels above the lobby on the first floor and glass reinforced concrete for the external and internal designs, gives the building a modern look.
According to a leaflet received here, the building has centralized music system and fire protection equipment.
The spacious drawing room can take in forty visitors while the dinning hall can seat 24 guests. There are three suites and two guest rooms. Outside the building, there are lawns with a fountain.
