Taking cognizance of the rainfall situation, Kiren Rijiju assures all possible help to Nagaland

Dimapur, August 6: Incessant rainfall and disruption of normal life have triggered a difficult situation in the state of Nagaland. Assuring help from the central government Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday assured the Nagaland government of all possible help and said a Central team would be sent to the State to assess the damage caused by flood and landslides.

The Union Minister of State for Home visited Nagaland to take stock of the situation that the state has been facing due to incessant rain. Kiren Rijiju along with Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio took off by chopper to undertake an aerial survey of the flood and landslides affected areas but returned back to Dimapur due to bad weather conditions.

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said that an inter-Ministerial team would be constituted and sent to Nagaland within a week’s time to prepare a correct projection of the financial requirement. He informed that the central government will send the team to Nagaland and once they submit the report, relief would be released immediately.

 

CM Neiphiu Rio thanked Kiren Rijiju for showing his concern by personally visiting Nagaland and for assuring that Delhi has not forgotten Nagaland.

Stating that restoration work was the main challenge, the Chief Minister requested for the additional fund to start restoration works besides immediate relief. He also requested the Union Minister for granting ex-gratia to the 10 lives lost due to disaster.

The Chief Minister also emphasized that the State Government machinery was making all-out efforts to restore damaged infrastructure and provide relief and rehabilitation to the affected people. However, the State was unable to address the challenges due to lack of resources, adequate machinery and equipment and also due to poor connectivity. He, therefore, requested the Centre to provide much-needed help to the State.

CM Rio also informed Kiren Rijiju about the decision of all the ruling People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) MLAs to contribute one month salary for relief and restoration work.

Nagaland Chief Secretary Temjem Toy said the Union Minister was shown visual and photographic presentation of the massive damages across Nagaland caused due to the erratic nature of rainfall and the situational report of the most severely-hit districts.