Champhai along with the rest of the country celebrate the 71st Republic Day at Chhangphut Field, yesterday. Pu SL Naveen, IAS, Deputy Commissioner was the Chief Guest, unfurled the national flag and answered he 19 marching contingents who saluted the tricolour.

Addressing the gathering, the Chief Guest highlighted various achievements of departments during the year 2019-2020, he said that for 29,006 job card holders under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), a total of 88 days of employment was provided, 1654 beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) were given incentives of Rs 67.01 lakhs, 2766 beneficiaries under Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) have received a monthly pension where 822 were above 80 years, under Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS) 269 numbers of beneficiaries received a total Rs.300 monthly pension, Dialysis Unit and High Dependency Unit (HDU) were installed at the District Hospital, National Deworming Day (NDD) has achieved 97.3 % and IPPI (Integration Pulse Polio Immunization) has achieved 99%. A total of 1,563 patient have benefited from AB-PMJSY, Golden Card has been utilized by 1,061 patient for free treatment and Health Care Scheme is also successfully utilized by the patients. Under Housing for All Scheme, there were 4810 applicants for Champhai Town, out of which 3418 beneficiaries were eligible for construction of individual houses.

Excluded Area Grants of Rs 893.30 lakhs is utilized for the development of villages in every Village Council in Champhai district and Construction of Dam Reservoir and Development of Recreation Centre at Keilungliah, Champhai (under NLCPR) has been sanctioned, Champhai district bagged best performing Fire Preventing district in the State , under Rainfed Area Development (RAD) Scheme, a total of Rs 41.05 lakhs was utilized for various activities, under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sanchayee Yojana (PMKSY), a total of Rs 41.05 lakhs was utilized for various activities like Secondary Storage Structure, Water Harvesting Structure, and Renovation of Small Tank, the Chief Guest added. He thanked all the State departments, Central Government agencies, MJA, NGO’s and the people of Champhai District for their role in creating a new and vibrant Champhai and requested them to work hard, study hard, and do everything possible to make the nation great by being healthy, productive, happy and socially good human beings.

The ceremonial March-Past was led by Parade Commander Sub-Inspector Joseph Lalhnehzela which witnessed 19 contingents including 1 Armed Contingent, 5 Unarmed Contingents, 13 School Contingents and one SSA Pipe Band. Among the School Contingents, Eastern Flower Academy Girls Contingent bagged the first position, followed by Bethel Mission School Contingent and Govt. Vengthlang M/S Contingent. Among the Armed and Unarmed Contingents, Student Police Cadet, Govt. GM H/S Boys Contingent got first position followed by NCC Govt. GM H/S Contingent and Student Police Cadet, Govt. GM H/S Girls Contingent, all participated contingents were given consolation prizes. Also at the function, the Chief Guest released a short documentary film titled as ‘Hmelma’ (Enemy) under Project HIMNA-MADAT and gave away prizes under HIMNA-MADAT Short Video Making for Youth Competition.