Road projects, job cards on Nagaland Legislative Assembly menu

Our Correspondent

Kohima, Feb. 10 (EMN): The fifth session of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) session entered day-three with more questions raised on the status of the ongoing developmental projects in the state.

NPF legislator Chotisuh Sazo raised the first starred question; enquiring about the total number of Inner Line Permit (ILP) defaulters detected and action taken after the enforcement of ILP in Dimapur district on December 9, 2019.

In reply, Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton stated that 28 defaulters have been detected so far. He added that out of the 28, six cases were filed and forwarded to the court for further action.

Patton informed that eight defaulters without any documents were fined INR 500 each and deported to Assam; 14 defaulters fined INR 500 each, and ILPs issued to them.

Another NPF legislator, Moatoshi Longkumer enquired about the sanctioned amount and total length of the four-lane road from Dimapur (Purana Bazaar) to Chümoukedima up to Chathe River Bridge (Patkai Bridge).

According to Patton, INR 369.96 crore has been sanctioned for the said road and length of the road was 12.9 km (from Dimapur, Purana Bazaar to Chümoukedima); and the two-lane road (from Chümoukedima to Chathe River Bridge point) was 1.5 km. 

Niuland to Kohima bypass

Opposition MLA, Vikheho Swu's starred question was of the latest progress on the capital road bypass from Niuland to Kohima. Y Patton, who holds the minister in-charge of National Highway, replied that the progress of the road for package-I was at 13%, package-II at 55% and package-III at 32%.

Further, Patton maintained that although the work was supposed to be completed by April 9, 2019 for package-I and March 18, 2020 for package-II and III, land compensation issue with private landowners, despite procuring NOC from village councils, halted the progress. He stated that the government was working on certain mechanisms to bring an end to the delay of work.

4.36 lakh job-card holders

NPF legislator Imtiwapang Aier queried on the total number of job cardholders under MGNREGA programme in the state and block-wise transactions done so far from 2018-2020. Minister for Rural Development, Metsubo Jamir said that the state had a total number of 4,36,000 job-card holders as of January 2020. He added that payments were done online through NREGA-soft eFMS and, ‘therefore there was no ‘block-wise cash money’ transaction.