Principal Correspondent
Kohima, December 19
Parliamentary Secretary for Planning & Co-ordination, Evaluation and Monitoring, Neiba Kronu on Friday said the DAN-III government under the leadership of Chief Minister TR Zeliang has been working hard to bring about better developmental works. Interacting with media persons at his residential office in Old Ministers’ Hill here, Kronu said the six-month-old TR Zeliang-led government has been making all efforts to bring faster development by bringing about changes in the functioning of the government while it is also ready to include constructive suggestions.
Pooh-poohing the crisis within the present government, he said it is too early to judge anybody’s leadership in just six months. “Therefore everybody should extend cooperation for sometime more,” he opined.
Kronu said the present government has ‘political will’ to bring about better changes in all fronts and because of which during the last six months, the government has come about with Nagaland Development Corporation and Nagaland Investment Board to facilitate investors from outside, including foreign, to come to the State.
Being a resource-crunch State, “it will be too late for Nagaland if we continue to depend on the funding from the Central government alone,” he noted. It is high time for the State to bring in private parties and develop the State, the Parliamentary Secretary stressed.
He said foreign investors like Asian Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, World Bank have been keen to extend investment in Nagaland but they need all social clearances from the State government before taking up the projects. He also maintained that the foreign investors require clear concept of the projects to be taken up.
Kronu highlighted major schemes such as augmentation of power sector to provide regular power supply to the people and also development of industries, improvement of road for better connectivity, railway line from Dhansari in Assam to Thizama in Kohima, four-laning of Dimapur Kohima Highway, International Standard Airport at Razhuphema are in the offing, besides the proposal for potable drinking water and Ring Road to avoid traffic congestion in State Capital Kohima.
He informed that survey for Razhuphema airport, new railway line from Dhansari to Thizama, Kohima Dimapur four-lane road have been completed but the problem being faced is land clearance by the landowners.
Therefore, in order to overcome such problems and to hold discussion with the landowners, the State government has constituted two separate committees – 11-member State Level Committee (Policy & Monitoring issues) headed by Parliamentary Secretary for Planning as Chairman and District/Project Implementation Level Committees for Kohima and Dimapur districts headed by deputy commissioners of both the districts as chairman .
He said the state level committee would exercise overall supervision of the process for implementation of the projects and to expedite the early completion of projects; recommend all policy matters to the state government; to evaluate and monitor the projects; to take up all land matters and to settle issues arising out of it in consultation with the state government and other stake holders. The monitoring cell under Planning department shall provide secretarial services to the committee.
Meanwhile, Kronu while lamenting abnormal cost escalation of projects within a year, called upon judicious use of the funds and timely completion of projects so that the cost overrun can be saved and used for other infrastructure developmental in the state. Further, the Parliamentary Secretary appreciated the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi towards restructuring of the Planning Commission. He said the initiative is not to do away with the Commission but to restructure and give liberty to the state governments to utilize the plans and guidelines of the projects and schemes of the Centre as per the practical requirement of the state government.
He said Modi while being the Chief Minister of Gujarat had brought about reformation and he knows the problems faced by the state governments while implementing the central schemes. Therefore, the initiative for restructuring of the Planning Commission is for good, he added.
The Parliamentary Secretary expressed hope that with barely three months remaining for the 13th Finance Commission to come to an end, the new 14th Finance Commission would be a boon for the State of Nagaland.
