Nagaland chief minister T. R. Zeliang on Friday commissioned the first National Information Infrastructure (NII) pilot project of the country at secretariat conference hall, Kohima.
Under the project every recognized village in Peren district has been provided with three high speed broadband internet connections, Zeliang said while congratulating the department of IT&C for putting the state in the forefront of e-governance despite with a limited budget.
“The department topped the list and placing the state on national map of e-governance and this deserved to be applauded”, Zeliang said.
He also mooted for such similar for such facilities in every district in the state.
The chief minister also urged the people and the department to encourage IT and use of Aadhar card to bring transparency and make it easier for the people to avail central schemes.
Zeliang further thanked the ministry of IT, central government for giving due recognition to IT related activities in the state of Nagaland.
He hoped that the younger generation will make good use of this technology and will become not only better individuals but also contribute more to national building. The chief minister also had video conference with DC and other officers of Peren district at the launching programme. In his speech, minister IT&C P.Paiwang Konyak said that the department next move was to make Nagaland the next IT hub in South East Asia. And to achieve this, the department has taken up various initiatives to meet the challenges in IT and e-Governance sector.
With the commissioning of first NII pilot project in the state, the minister expressed confidence that the state of Nagaland is now well on its way to become the next IT hub of south East Asia.
The minister also informed that Nagaland is now ranked among the top one in e-district mission mode project along with six other states in the country.
Joint secretary ministry of Electronics & IT GoI Sanjiv Mittal IAS, in his address said the pilot project on NII was presently implemented in one district each in six other States. However, he said Nagaland has earned the distinction of being the first state to be ready with the necessary ICT infrastructure and to have it operationalised.
The project in the State covered seven blocks, 89 Gram Panchayats (GPs) and 311 government offices till GPs in Peren district and the task of deploying infrastructure has been fully accomplished, Mittal informed.
He informed that the BSNL towers have been utilised for mounting in-wireless equipment for bank have connectivity and thanked the BSNL for their prompt cooperation and assistance. He was hopeful that the state would fully harness the infrastructure and deliver various services online at GPs level.
Chief secretary Pankaj Kumar in his brief note informed that NII was a part of the Digital India Initiative that seeks to integrate the network and to provide high speed connectivity upto panchayat level. Host of ministers, HoDs and others attended the launching programme. Commissioner and secretary IT&C K.D Vizo proposed vote of thanks.