Kohima Smart City Development Limited observes Open Data Day

Dimapur, Jan. 21 (EMN): Kohima Smart City Development Limited (KSCDL) observed ‘Open Data Day’ at Kohima Municipal Council’s (KMC) New Super Market building on Friday.

The chief executive officer of KSCDL, K Theunuo, informed that the ‘Open Data Week,’ an initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, government, is being held from January 17 to the 21st.

In her keynote address, the administrator of KMC, T Lanusenla Longkumer, stressed on the importance of providing accurate data as it is used in policy making and planning of the government, which in turn would impact the development of the state.

She added that a resident of Kohima city should avail benefits from the city itself and not from their native village as it would help in presenting an accurate data in planning for the city.

The city data officer and general manager (planning) of KSCDL, Kezhochole Rhetso highlighted on various data used in urban planning. She stated that private agencies and individuals play an important role in providing accurate data.

The additional director of Economics and Statistics, Charles N Kikon, presented an overview of the process of collecting and compiling various information at different levels by the department to be used in policy making. While lamenting the lack of quality data in the state, he cautioned that wrong statistics would give wrong policies.

The assistant director of Census Operation, Mhathung Rangthang, shared on various surveys conducted by the department, while a GIS expert from Nagaland Science and Technology Council, department of Science & Technology, Thsope Medo highlighted the department’s role in providing data through geographic information system (GIS) and how it has helped in checking if actual work is implemented.

Other line departments and students from Kohima also took part in the programme. A quiz competition on ‘Open Data’ was also conducted.