Stage set for Frontier Nagaland

GUWAHATI, Nov 10 : The stage is finally set for the creation of a Frontier Nagaland Territory, an autonomous structure under Article 371 A of the Constitution, in Nagaland. The contentious issue of funding has been resolved.
Funds for the proposed politico-administrative structure will be technically channelised through the State but the State Government will have no discretion to divert it elsewhere and has to release the funds in a specified time frame, sources told Northeast Live.
Besides, the sources added, the FNT administration will be in the know of the funds position or allocation in real time through a transparent system.
The Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation, ENPO has been demanding direct funding from the Centre with no role of the State Government.
The Nagaland Government on November 6 sent its comments on the draft FNT agreement to the Ministry of Home Affairs after sitting on it for a long time. The non submission of its response to the draft agreement by the State Government had forced the ENPO to clamp October 31 as the deadline with a threat to start a vigorous agitation.
Sources said the Nagaland Government in its response did not have any major objection to the draft agreement prepared after rounds of negotiations between the MHA and the ENPO.
Now that the State Government has sent in its response, a tripartite meeting will be held soon between the Centre, the ENPO and the Nagaland Government to finalise the FNT agreement and sign the deal.
The proposed FNT will comprise six districts in eastern Nagaland–Mon, Tuensang, Longleng, Kiphire, Noklak, and Shamator.
There are a total of 20 Assembly Constituencies in the eastern Nagaland districts which means one third of the legislators in the 60 member Nagaland Assembly come from this region. There has been a constant complaint that successive State Governments had neglected this area.
Meanwhile, on Friday the Nagaland Government issued a press release that stated that the State Government has submitted its feedback on the draft Memorandum of Settlement (MoS)-III regarding the proposed FNT/Frontier Nagaland Territorial Authority (FNTA) to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
The release stated that the comments were formally conveyed through a letter (No. CON-1/G/1/2011(Vol-I)) dated November 6, 2024, from Kohima. The feedback includes point-wise observations on the proposed FNT/FNTA, which covers six eastern Nagaland districts: Mon, Tuensang, Longleng, Kiphire, Noklak, and Shamator. The proposal had received approval from the State Cabinet in its meeting on October 30.  NE Live