Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday virtually inaugurated projects worth 52 crore including 42 VR laboratories in 42 government higher secondary and secondary schools, Atal Tinkering labs in nine government higher secondary schools, a 12.5 MV power substation at Chiephobozou in Kohima district, a Trekking and base camp at Mt. Saramati and a two-lane RCC bridge over Doyang river near Governor’s Camp at Liphayan in Wokha district which was earlier asked to be cancelled by the Nagaland Foothills Road Co-ordination Committee.
Earlier today, the Nagaland Foothills Road Co-ordination Committee (NFHRCC) had written to the Home Minister Amit Shah requesting him to cancel the proposed virtual inauguration of the Doyang Bridge at Governor’s Camp, Liphanyan, Wokha District.
According to the committee, the project was initiated by 13 Naga Tribes of Nagaland since 2013 and had approached the concerned land owners asking them not to claim any land compensation.
Further, the committee mentioned that they requested the various Naga Political groups not to levy tax on the proposed project which NFHRCC said was willingly agreed upon.The project is called an “extraordinary project” or the same can be called as “People’s Project”, the NFHRCC wrote.
“Since November 2022, the committee has been waiting for the Hon’ble CM, Nagaland for inauguration of the Bridge. On December 14, 2022, the Hon’ble CM consented for the inauguration of the Bridge. However, the same was postponed owing to the busy schedule of the CM,” the NFHRCC stated.
The NFHRCC claimed that on 14 December 2022, it wrote a letter to the CM requesting him to inaugurate it on or before December 20, 2022 as a Christmas gift to the Naga people. “However, the CMO had responded to the Committee’s letter verbally on enquiry that intimation will be made in due course of time,” the committee added.
Saying that while they waited anxiously for a response from the CMO, to their “utter shock and surprise,” it came to their knowledge only this morning that the “Historic Project will be inaugurated virtually by your Honor today at 15:00hrs without any intimation or knowledge of the concerned Committee.”
In view of the above stated “facts and circumstances,” the NFHRCC appealed to the Home Minister to “cancel the proposed inauguration in the interest of the Naga public at large.”
The Union Home Minister nonetheless inaugurated the said bridge virtually along with several other projects later in the day.