Vice-President Hamid Ansari at Kisama on Saturday. (PTI) Kohima, Sep 20 : Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari visited Kigwema village, some 15km from here, today and lauded the unique administrative model followed by the villagers.
The Vice-President, accompanied by Nagaland Governor Nikhil Kumar, visited a traditional Naga house and viewed the village from Tehouba, before proceeding to the village council hall.
Addressing the villagers, Ansari expressed his interest in the reports presented by various village committees. He said the organised structure of functioning of the village committees reminds him of Mahatma Gandhi’s words, “India lives in its villages”.
Referring to communitisation and the village development board, he said it is an innovative model, which can be borrowed and improved upon by the rest of the country.
Additional chief secretary and development commissioner Alemtemshi Jamir earlier highlighted the concept of the village board and communitisation. He also briefed the gathering on the effectiveness of the village bodies.
Brief reports on their activities were presented by the village board, village education and water and sanitation and health committees and the village electricity management bo-ard.
Ansari, accompanied by his wife Salma Ansari, governor of Nagaland, Nikhil Kumar, ministers and other state dignitaries, paid a visit to the World War II Memorial in Kohima in the morning.
He was accorded a warm welcome by state home commissioner C.J. Ponraj, army officers, district administration and other government officials.
Honouring the war heroes, he laid floral wreaths on the memorials and observed a minute’s silence in remembrance of the soldiers killed in action. The Assam Rifles band played the national anthem as a prelude.
Salma Ansari visited the World War II Museum at Naga Heritage Village, Kisama. After viewing the exhibits on display, she watched a 30-minute documentary, The Battle of Kohima, produced by the directorate of art and culture, Nagaland, documenting the 16-day siege of Kohima that became one of the most strategic battles in the history of World War II.
She appreciated the department for carefully documenting history and said how “fragile” peace is. She was shown around the museum exhibits by assistant director, art and culture, Kerüno Sakhrie.