Nagaland Gets India’s First NII Pilot Project

Chief Minister of Nagaland TR Zeliang on Friday inaugurated the 1st National Information Infrastructure (NII) Pilot Project of the country at the Nagaland Civil Secretariat Conference Hall, Kohima.

The project provides three wireless broadband internet services to each administrative Hqs and all recognized villages under Peren district. Addressing the programme, the Chief Minister congratulated the Department of IT&C in achieving another milestone and for being the first in the country to launch the NII.

The Chief Minister also requested the Joint Secretary, MeitY, Government of India, Sanjiv Mittal IAS, who represented the Government of India, to facilitate so that more IT related projects are approved for implementation in the State and also to cover all the districts of Nagaland under the NII project.

TR Zeliang also thanked the Ministry of IT, Government of India for giving due recognition to IT related activities in the state of Nagaland. The Chief Minister 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.

Joint Secretary, MeitY, Government of India, Sanjiv Mittal IAS, while delivering a speech on behalf of the Government of India, informed that Nagaland has earned the distinction of being the first state to be ready with the necessary ICT infrastructure and to have it operationalised.

He explained that the planned pilot project in the State covers seven blocks, 89 Gram Panchayats (GPs) and 311 government offices till GPs in Peren district and that task of deploying infrastructure has been fully accomplished. He also informed that the BSNL towers have been utilized for mounting in wireless equipment for banks to have connectivity and thanked the BSNL for their prompt cooperation and assistance.

The Joint Secretary hoped that the State will fully harness the infrastructure created and deliver various services online at the GPs level. He also made a special mention as the untiring sincere efforts put up by Commissioner & Secretary, IT, KD Vizo and his team for the successful implementation of the project.

Minister for IT&C, P. Paiwang Konyak in his speech stated that the Department of IT & C has emerged as a top performing department in the State and congratulated the officers for putting the state of Nagaland in the national map of e-Governance and said that the department aims to make Nagaland the next IT hub in South East Asia. The Minister also informed that Nagaland is now ranked among the top one in eDistrict Mission Mode Project along with six other states in the country.

Chief Secretary Nagaland, Pankaj Kumar, IAS who chaired the programme said that the district of Peren has been provided with high speed wireless connectivity to all administrative Hqs as well as village in the district. He said it was up to the various departments and the district administration to make the most of the facilities provided. The Chief Minister also conducted an online video conference with the DC, ADC’s, SDO (C), EACs and Village Chairman during the inauguration.