Our Correspondent
Kohima | December 1
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio in his address at the 59th Statehood Day in Kohima on Wednesday asserted that the state has been collectively fighting the COVID-19 pandemic for almost two years now.
Rio called upon the people to continue to be watchful and take all preventive steps as we open up and start the festive season.
Use of mask and other precautions must continue. Vaccine hesitancy in some pockets of our districts is a matter of great concern. Some mischief makers are spreading misinformation and misguiding our people about vaccines through social media. There is no truth in the false propaganda and such rumor mongering must be stopped, the chief minister said.
Within Nagaland, people in Kohima and Dimapur have taken the vaccine with great enthusiasm and these towns are safer today. Stating that many villages have completed 100% vaccination of their eligible population, Rio congratulated them for this achievement.
He also appealed all to come forward and take the vaccine. “This will make everyone safer against any future COVID-19 outbreaks and will save precious lives,” Rio said.
At the same time, we salute all our health care with those families who have lost their near and dear ones during over all the precious lives that have been lost.
“Our sympathies are workers, front line workers, the district administration and the care societies and church leaders for their ceaseless hard work. The government has constantly monitored the situation and taken timely decisions which helped us in dealing with the first and the second waves effectively. We recruited hundreds of doctors and nurses by creating additional posts. We also improved our health infrastructure in a short time span. In addition, we were able to set up oxygen generation facilities and deploy advanced equipment. Further, we also added more hospital beds including a modern, State of the Art 200-bedded acute care hospital block in CIHSR, Dimapur in record time. The facility at CIHSR Dimapur helps us be better prepared for future COVID-19 waves and other medical emergencies,” Rio said.
Nagaland to host South Asian Cross Country championship
Rio said that Nagaland will be hosting the South Asian Cross-Country Championship, which will be clubbed together with the 56th National Cross-Country Championship in January 2022.
This will be perhaps the biggest-ever international event to be hosted by Nagaland, he said adding that it will bring athletes, officials and delegates from many South Asian countries to Nagaland.
Rio appealed to everyone, particularly the sports fraternity to come forward and support the event to make it a grand success.
“This event has the potential to take Nagaland to the international sporting arena, “ Rio said.
Electricity is driver of all development
The CM said that electricity is the driver of all development and as we are heavily deficient in power generation, we need to quickly enhance our capacity. Recently, the state received approval for two Externally Aided Hydro Electric Power Projects, namely 42MW Lower Tizu and 24MW Zungki, with estimated costs of Rs 529 78 Cr and Rs 367.21 Cr respectively. In order to further augment our power generation capacity, we will be setting up solar power plants of 10-20 MW during the coming year, Rio said.
Govt to facilitate entrepreneurial initiatives
Rio said that the state government has worked to facilitate the entrepreneurial initiatives of the youth in undertaking productive activities.
During the recently concluded session of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly, resolution has been passed for implementation of the SARFAESI Act in Nagaland.
“We have passed this Act after deliberations with all stakeholders, and after ensuring that the rights of our people guaranteed under Article 371A continue to be fully protected. This paves the way for providing finance facilities by the banks to our promising entrepreneurs,” Rio said.
The chief minister said that the government is also taking steps to help unlock the value of assets owned by our people by way of putting in place a legal framework to provide land title documents, which will enable them to obtain finance for their projects. Access to finance coupled with better infrastructure and connectivity as well as a peaceful atmosphere will help our entrepreneurs prosper and contribute to the economic growth of the state.
NSDMA to implement disaster risk reduction roadmap
Rio said that the state witnessed a drought-like situation in Nagaland this year and in order to deal with the delayed and erratic rains, the state has implemented a Crop Contingency Plan. This will help affected farmers with input support during Rabi season, he said. Our state is giving more focus to organic farming, not only to help farmers fetch better prices for their produce, but also to provide healthy and nutritious food, Rio said.
In order to strengthen our disaster management capacities, NSDMA is going to start implementing a project of Disaster Risk Reduction Roadmap for Nagaland in collaboration with UNICEF, Rio said.
