Nagaland launches right of way portal to help telecom operators

Our Correspondent
Kohima, April 27 (EMN): Advisor for Information Technology and Communication, Science and Technology, New and Renewable Energy, Mmhonlumo Kikon on Wednesday launched the state’s official right of way (RoW) portal and awareness workshop on e-services under the e-district platform at the Directorate of IT&C, Kohima.

He informed that a total of 21,660 online Inner Line Permit (ILP) applications have been received through the online ILP portal for all categories of applicants.

A total of 1.8 lakh scholarship applications have been processed through the single window for all state scholarships, showing a 20% increase in online scholarship applications.

Under the e-district portal, 16 e-services are live with Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) service being used most extensively, which shows an increment of 37% in NPSC online transactions since 2018, it was informed.

As per the records of the Government of India, Nagaland has shown an increase of 38% in overall digital transactions since 2017, he said.

With the inclusion of high transaction volume services like Schedule Tribe certificates, Backward Tribe certificates, birth and death certificates, and employment exchange registration cards, he said the usage of online services will increase exponentially and citizens of Nagaland will benefit from it.

Kikon requested all the departments to extensively harness the benefits of technology in providing various government services to citizens to enable the state to move towards digital governance.

Principal Secretary IT&C and Power, KD Vizo said that it is a big challenge to lay underground optical fibres due to difficult terrains, inclement weather conditions and other factors, so the state is slowly moving towards aerial optical fibre connectivity and wireless connections.

However, some telecom operators have gone ahead with underground optical fibre cable laying, which requires right of way permission. Even for aerial optical fibre connectivity along power transmission lines, there is a need for telecom operators to obtain RoW permission from the state government, he informed.

‘To facilitate quick permission, the state has brought a comprehensive RoW policy in December 2019, and today, a portal has been set up to speed up issuance of permission,’ he said while highlighting the objective of launching RoW website.

‘In a tribal society like Nagaland, it is not easy to migrate to new systems; as such, the department is organising awareness programmes to make people comfortable with the new online services,’ he added.

With the launching of the portal, he expressed hope that Nagaland will inch closer to making the state the next IT hub of Southeast Asia. The department has enabled a total of 16 services in several offices and district administration, he added.