In his address marking the commencement of the fourth session of the Fourteenth Nagaland Legislative Assembly at Nagaland Legislative Assembly Secretariat, Kohima, Governor La Ganesan highlighted the various achievements and progress in Nagaland.
In the education sector, the Governor pointed out that the Department of School Education have designed interventions through various mechanisms to strengthen continuous professional development through decentralised capacity building models. Further, for enhancement of the overall teaching and learning environment, construction of 16 school complexes based on a hub and spoke model, known as the Lighthouse School Complexes are currently under the pipeline.
He added that the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) had successfully accredited 36 colleges out of 71 colleges in the State through the initiative of Department of Higher and Technical Education. Out of the 17 Government colleges, 13 colleges has been assessed by NAAC and the remaining colleges are also planned to be assessed at the soonest possible time. For improving the standard of technical education, the government plans to get accreditation of National Board of Accreditation (NBA) for all polytechnic institutes, and to up-grade three Diploma Institutes to Degree Engineering.
In a move which will have a far reaching and decisive impact on the higher education landscape, the State is actively pursuing with the Central Government for setting up an Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER) in Nagaland. “An institute like IISER could give the State a national institute of importance, and would immensely help in promoting science and maths education, and research in our State. We have acquired about 200 acres of prime land at a very well connected location in Sukhovi, Chümoukedima district for setting up the lISER,” mentioned the Governor.
Highlighting the notable achievements in sports, Ganesan assured that several critical interventions in this field are being pursued to further foster sporting culture among the people and make the State a leading sporting power in the country.
Building and improving sports infrastructure across the State, the Governor informed that the Department of Youth Resources and Sports commissioned five pre-fabricated multi discipline sports stadiums last year, and construction of another 11 projects across the State are underway.
Download Nagaland Tribune app on Google Play
“There are several other major projects for stadium and grounds which have been completed and being taken up throughout the State, notable among them the development of a FIFA standard football stadium with synthetic turf and floodlights at NAPTC Chumoukedima, all of which will go a long way in providing the requisite infrastructure to budding sports persons while also enabling us to host big sporting events and competitions in the State,” stated Ganesan. He highlighted the recently held Khelo India University Games (Asthalaxmi), 2023 for wrestling, and another major sporting event, the North East Olympic Games, which Nagaland will host next month. Later in the year, the State also plan to host the Asian Belt & Traditional Wrestling Championships which will become the biggest sports event to be held in Nagaland so far.
In the field of music and arts, the Governor mentioned that Nagaland is emerging as one of the music and arts capitals in the North East region and in the country where Naga artists are going global, drawing accolades for their talent and performance.
The Governor also informed about the air connectivity by Helicopter Service in the State which is expected to see a significant boost with the entry of Pawan Hans, a Government of India enterprise into the State of Nagaland. According to Ganesan, this company will provide Helicopter Service initially covering 6 (six) locations, namely, Dimapur, Kohima, Mokokchung, Tuensang, Zunheboto and Phek, besides providing the maiden Inter-State helicopter connectivity to Jorhat Airport. This will be in addition to the existing Helicopter Services in the State, being operated with the assistance from the Ministry of Home Affairs, GOI.
The growth and development in the power sector infrastructure was also highlighted. In the Generation Sector, the proposed Lower-Tizu 42MW HEP and Zungki 24MW HEP, which already received clearances of various Ministries concerned in the Government of India, are now posed to ADB for funding. The Tizu- Valley 24MW HEP has also been submitted to the Central Government for appraisal and clearances.
In the Transmission Sector, under the World Bank funded NE Region Power System Improvement Scheme (NERPSIP), almost all the major towns and load centres across the State have been covered by a robust 132kv line system. “In the Sub-Transmission and Distribution Sector, continuous upgradation and strengthening are taking place, and we are about to start implementing the Revamped Distribution System Scheme (RDSS) to address the requirement of this sector,” informed the Governor. In the Revenue Sector, the State further plans to install Smart Pre-paid meters on a large scale, which will plug the leakages and reduce the purchase-collection gap to a large extent.
