Nagaland: Rio urges Naga political groups to honour reconciliation agreement

Dimapur: Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio appealed to the Naga political groups to honour and respect the Covenant of Reconciliation and maintain the sanctity of non-violence in letter and spirit for a shared Naga future as members of one Naga family.

Addressing the 58th Statehood Day of Nagaland at Nagaland Civil Secretariat Plaza in Kohima today, Rio said the state government convened a consultative meeting on October 15 with all the representatives of all the tribal hohos, civil society organisations, political parties, ex-parliamentarians and various public leaders on the Naga political issue.

The meeting adopted a seven-point resolution unanimously and acknowledged the sacrifices and contributions of the “nationalist workers” in the course of the Naga political journey, he stated.

The Covenant of Reconciliation was signed on June 13, 2009 by the then NSCN (I-M) chairman late Isak Chishi Swu, then NSCN (K) chairman late SS Khaplang and president of Federal Government of Nagaland “Brig” (retd) S Singnya to continue to work together in the spirit of love, non-violence, peace and respect to resolve outstanding issues amongst themselves.

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Rio extended his warmest greetings to the people of the State. He called upon them to remember with gratitude the leaders, who by their sacrifices, foresightedness and determination ensured the creation of Nagaland with a special constitutional provision as the 16th state of the Union of India.

On preparations for combating the Covid-19 pandemic, Rio said the State government took every possible step to further develop and improve the entire health infrastructure in the State. He said the State government managed to go from a State with nil testing capacity to 2600-3000 testing capacity per day. The number of ventilators in the State has been increased from 14 to 145 and 110 departmental ambulances and there has also been an increase in the strength of the healthcare workers, he said.

He added that a new Cath Lab has been installed in Christian Institute of Health Services and Research in Dimapur and a new medical college is also being established in Mon.

Rio said the employment, skill development and entrepreneurship department initiated the introduction of “mobile skill morung” on November 13 to ensure access to skill development for rural youth and women. “Mobile skill morung” is a self-contained training workshop on wheels equipped with machineries and equipment that can travel with trainers across the State.

The Task Force for Music and Arts has started music incubation programme, where young artists are being trained to fit into the ever growing music industry, he stated.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Rio said, the tourism department has outlined several strategies for the revival of the tourism industry in Nagaland in a safe and sustainable manner thereby promoting it as a “safe destination”. He added that the department, along with the State government, is celebrating the 21st edition of annual Hornbill Festival 2020 completely in a virtual mode only, a first of its kind for the State.

Rio also touched upon the government’s initiatives on agriculture sector, education, roads among others.

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