Nagaland Chief Minister requests Centre to revive development project at Kohima orphanage

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Aug. 7 (EMN): Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has written to the minister of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and Culture and Tourism, G Kishan Reddy, requesting to “revive” infrastructural development at Kohima Orphanage and Destitute Home, which was cancelled last year.

In his letter to the minister dated July 31, Rio wrote that it was “highly unfortunate” to have the project “so regrettably cut off”. He further requested the minister to revive it as a “special case” and for the welfare of the society. 

The North East Council (NEC) sanctioned a total cost of INR 284 lakh for the project during 2017-18 and first instalment of INR 19.52 lakh was subsequently released. The state’s share was also released on April 17, 2018.

However, as per the NEC secretariat office memo on May 19, 2021, the project was abruptly declared closed on ‘as is where is’ basis. It further directed the state government to refund the unspent released fund with accrued interest, Rio wrote.

“It may be placed on record that the Kohima Orphanage (and Destitute) Home is a privately run charity institution and has nurtured and fostered hundreds of orphaned and abandoned children over the past few decades,” he added.

Meanwhile, Advisor to the chief minister, Abu Metha also wrote to Rio last month to address the matter with a humanitarian approach and resolve the issue.

“The Kohima Orphanage & Destitute Home has about a hundred children who are in very challenging and underprivileged conditions. It is in this context that the decision of the North Eastern Council (NEC) to cancel an ongoing infrastructure project is indeed very unfortunate,” Metha wrote.

In 2017-18, NEC had sanctioned and approved a project under the nomenclature “Infrastructure Development at Kohima Orphanage Home”, he wrote.

“As per the reports of the concerned department, the progress of works was ‘good’ with completion of 30 percent of the approved project. However, in May 2020 NEC in an office memorandum had declared the project closed ‘as is where is’ as per the approval of the competent authority,” he added.

The memorandum even said that the state government should refund the fund with accrued interest. Subsequently, the Social Welfare department had written to the Planning department to take up the matter with “the competent authority” to reconsider closure of the project.

“The unfinished structure remains standing like a sore thumb in the heart of the orphanage as an abandoned building. The management of the orphanage is unable to approach ‘the competent authority’ and explained their predicament with tears during my recent visit,” he said, adding that the matter seemed to have been handled in an insensitive manner with little regard for the welfare of the unfortunate orphans and underprivileged children.

He further wrote that the project should be restored and completed at the earliest time possible as the welfare and future of the orphans was a collective responsibility.

Meanwhile, the advisor took to Twitter on Saturday to thank the chief minister for taking up the matter and further requested DoNER minister and NEC to take a “sympathetic approach” towards the matter.