Beyond the VVIPs

It is not unnatural to do some quick window dressing for an event which means that the host has to put up the best foot forward in order to impress the visitors and guests. This is what is being done by the state government to welcome the distinguished dignitaries of the G20 business summit who will be arriving Kohima via Dimapur for the April 5 conclave. Sprucing up is not a difficult thing to do but even that has its limits. According to the state chief secretary Jane Alam, about 110 delegates are being expected to visit, of which about 100 will be from 28 G20 countries and the remaining from international organizations that are part of the grouping. The delegates represent big continental corporations, ambassadors and other senior representatives of their respective countries will be attending the summit. The state government is leaving no stone unturned to welcome the visitors with traditional Naga hospitality. For this, the state government has also decided to relax sale and consumption of alcohol for the foreign guests so as to ensure they lack nothing. The relaxation of the NLTP Act 1989 is supposed to be for a limited period of the summit. It is expected that the relaxation could be extended in some way and it won’t be unexpected since there has been a growing realisation that the dry law is not only a failure but has become a lucrative source for black marketing and black money. The worse is that the NLTP Act has neither prevented sale or consumption of alcohol while the government is losing very heavily on excise revenue. Be that as it may, the other most important aspect for welcoming thousands of visitors and travellers is the urgent need for improvement of Nagaland’s only airport and railway station at Dimapur, the latter being among the oldest in the region. Both these services are way behind airports and railway stations of neighbouring states. Nagaland Post has been highlighting on the factors behind the stagnation of these two very vital links which have almost come to a grinding halt. The reason is due to encroachment of and the main factors is because the local authorities have failed to nip trouble in the bud. The issue of encroachment of land at the airport figured in the 12th session of the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly. The minister in-charge disclosed the names of 22 persons who had encroached airport land. The minister expressed the hope that the High Court would pass a favourable judgement and after which the state will issue eviction order. The state government finally woke up from slumber and filed a petition in the high court only in 2022 and exposed lack of seriousness. The same is the case with Dimapur railway station where no development can take place due to encroachment. The highest revenue for NFR is Guwahati with around 20,000 train passengers daily, while the second highest revenue is from Dimapur with a little over 4000 passengers l daily. However today, NFR has removed many trains from Dimapur such as Nagaland Express and BG Express to Assam. The state government owes an explanation as to why it has been inactive with regard to land issues at the airport and railway station at Dimapur since these are vital for trade, travel and tourism- the 3 ‘Ts’ for economic development of the state.