CM announces FPF to protect flora and fauna

Kohima, Aug 16 (UNI) Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has announced to raise Forest Protection Force (FPF) to protect the flora and fauna of the reserved forests, national parks and sanctuaries in the state.

In his Independence Day speech here yesterday, the chief minister said his government was also contemplating to raise the strength of the Village Guards (VG) with an additional recruitment of 1155 guards for the selected villages located along the Nagaland-Assam border.

He claimed that the law and order in the state 'by and large' remained peaceful, with the exception of inter-factional clashes amongst the underground groups.

'' In order to maintain peace and tranquility in the state it was necessary to adhere to the ceasefire ground rules by the concerned parties '', he said adding to ensure that, the had recently introduced the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) rules which was agreed upon during the 'Cease-Fire Agreement'.

Under the SOP, district-level committees were constituted to streamline the cease-fire ground rules throughout the state, he informed.

UNI AS RH ARB KN1219