DIMAPUR, Jun 6 : Nagaland’s lone Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha, Neiphiu Rio today urged Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju to expedite the Naga peace process.
According to Abu Metha, the media advisor of Neiphiu Rio, the latter has been meeting a number of leaders and Ministers in New Delhi after taking oath. Rio met Union Home Minister and National BJP President Rajnath Singh and highlighted the need for early resolution of the Naga political issue in his meeting with Rajnath Singh. He also met Union Minister of State (Home) Kiren Rijiju and impressed upon the Minister to expedite the peace process and work towards early resolution of the political problem.
Rio met Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Sarbananda Sonowal and highlighted the need to promote sports and youth activities, create employment and entrepreneurial opportunities and promote youth empowerment. Emphasizing on some of the pioneering initiatives taken up by the Nagaland Government in the area of youth empowerment, Rio stressed on the urgent need to promote the youth of the North Eastern region and also address the problems being faced by the people of the North East in the rest of the country especially in the metropolitan cities.
Meanwhile, participating in the ongoing Parliament session immediately after the election of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Rio congratulated the newly elected Speaker, Sumitra Mahajan, Rio extended his regards on behalf of Nagaland, the Naga People’s Front (NPF) and the North East Regional Parties Front (NERPF) to the Speaker.
He assured all cooperation to the Chair while urging her to support in bringing about peace and resolution of the Naga political problem. He stressed on the fact that Nagaland is fifty years old and that he was the lone MP in the House from Nagaland and that the Naga political problem needed to be seriously discussed and addressed.
Rio has also been called on by a number of senior leaders from all over the country, including both the Members of Parliament from Sikkim, Rajya Sabha MP, S. Reddy, senior officers and representatives of NGOs and civil societies.
Neiphiu Rio then took up the issue of poor air connectivity in Nagaland with the Prime Minister and the union Civil Aviation Minister. In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Rio stated, “At present, only Air India is operating in Dimapur with five flights a week to Kolkata via Dibrugarh. In this regard there is an urgent need to increase air services to Dimapur and also introduce new flights in this sector in the greater interest of the people. In the past too, the State Government has taken up the matter with the Government of India on several occasions, however the services have only deteriorated.” The letter further stated that the Dimapur Airport is in a very poor condition and its facilities need to be immediately improved and upgraded. At present the aircraft that is operating in the Dimapur sector is very old and regularly faces technical problems and therefore this concern also needs to be addressed urgently, the letter stated.
Rio suggested some immediate actions to be taken up by the Government of India like introduction of direct flights from Delhi to Dimapur and Dimapur to Delhi via Kolkata, introduction of Dimapur – Guwahati – Kolkata flight and improvement of Dimapur Airport facilities.
Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang and MP Neiphiu Rio together met the Civil Aviation Minister, Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati in New Delhi today to highlight the connectivity problems of the State. They also met Union DONER Minister Gen VK Singh.
