Nagaland Govt bids farewell to outgoing Chief Secretary

Agencies | Kohima, March 17, 2018: 

Nagaland Government on Saturday bade farewell in honour of the outgoing Chief Secretary Pankaj Kumar at the Secretariat Plaza in the Civil Secretariat here.

Narrating the various incidences encountered during his tenure as the Chief Secretary, Mr Kumar maintained that each incident was testing with weaknesses being shown on the one hand, and strength and resilience on handling the situations on the other.

He appreciated the sincere efforts of his colleagues specially the senior officers in working together as a team in their efforts to resolve those issues which otherwise could have gone awry.

"It is unprecedented that we have four major international externally aided projects in the State including the Nagaland Health Project funded by the World Bank, the Climate Resistance Highland Farming, the Nagaland Forest Management Project funded by JICA and the Biodiversity Conservation in Community Conserved Areas, he said.

Highlighting the problems persisting in the state over the years besides others, he mentioned that streamlining of recruitment, optimal allocation of funds for better performance and transparency in awarding contracts in the State are challenging.

Referring to the Centre's initiative like the Direct Benefit Transfer, Ease of Doing Business initiative, Government e-market for procurement of goods online and the Goods and Services Tax, he encouraged the Government machineries to strive towards extracting maximum benefits from the same.

'Success comes only with the combined effort of the entire hierarchy of the administrators,' he said and thanked all the stakeholders for their cooperation and support in the task of governing the State.

He also acknowledged the well managed recently concluded general election under the leadership of the Chief Electoral Officer, Nagaland, the District Administration and all other functionaries.

Returning to the State in 2014 after his deputation at the Centre, Pankaj Kumar took over as the Chief Secretary of the State on March 1, 2015 and with the handing over of charges on March 17, he has served in the position for over 3 years.

Additional Chief Secretary & Finance Commissioner, Temjen Toy, speaking on behalf of the Government said the contributions made by the outgoing Chief Secretary for the State of Nagaland and also for the Government was commendable.

He narrated his experiences with him at various levels during his posting in the districts.

'The way he wore the Chief Secretary's hat from day one has been most comforting, most satisfying and most fulfilling,' Mr Toy said.

'Your immense contributions to the Government and the system you have put in place will stay,' he added.

He also stated that he has been able to captain the administrative ship very ably amidst all the political turmoil for the past few years.

Mr Toy wished him a successful career as he is embarking to a new assignment as Additional Secretary, under the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Principal Secretary and Nagaland Commissioner Sentiyanger, who chaired the programme, also delivered the welcome address.

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