Governor stresses for speedy development

Kohima Mar 20 (UNI) Governor K. Sankaranarayanan today stressed on the need for speedy development in Nagaland and said the government's slogan of 'peace for development and development for peace' has to be taken further.

Addressing the 14th session of the tenth Nagaland Assembly, the governor said industrial development was high on the agenda of his government. The manufacturing sector was growing at 6.22 per cent and the secondary sector at 8.18 per cent, he said.

Industrial infrastructure was intensely being built to support entrepreneurs. ''The Nagaland Mini Tool Room and Training Centre (NMTTC) at Dimapur and Industrial Growth Centre (IGC) and Export Promotion Industrial Park (EPIP) at Ganeshnagar in Dimapur are mentionable,'' he said.

He also said the government placed high hopes on the 'Look East Policy' of the Centre, because it could transform this remote state into a gateway between India and the emerging economy of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries.

The construction of the much awaited East-West corridor highway up to and along the eastern border with Myanmar, would serve not only as the trade route with the ASEAN countries, but as a highway for patrolling the sensitive international boundary to check and control drug trafficking and smuggling of arms and other contraband.

Further, the government was taking up with the Centre the setting up of one 'Special Economic Zone' along with a 'Software Technology Park' around Dimapur, the commercial hub of Nagaland, as part of the 'Look East Policy'.

Welcoming the 'peace process', the governor said the government was pained at the factional clashes and killings by insurgent groups that have a cascading effect on the development process.

UNI