458/2026-2027

Champhai, October 15, 2026: North Eastern Council (NEC) Secretary Pu Satinder Kumar Bhalla today visited and inspected various development projects in Champhai. He was accompanied by Horticulture Department Secretary Pi Maria CT Zuali, Champhai Deputy Commissioner Pu Mohammad Aaquib, and Senior Research Officer Pi Lalnunsiami.

The visit began with an inspection of the proposed project site for the Mualkawi Ginger USP Main Processing Hub and the proposed Zotlang Ginger Spoke Hub. The hub will be equipped with machinery for cleaning, grading, slicing, drying, and packaging ginger. To ensure that the project can commence at the earliest, he instructed the concerned departments to expedite the completion of pending works. He also interacted with local ginger farmers.

Pu Satinder Kumar Bhalla subsequently visited the Passion Fruit Processing Unit, which is being established with NEC funding, and interacted with the staff. After reviewing the remaining work required to make the unit operational, he directed the concerned authorities to expedite the process. Emphasising the importance of producing high-quality passion fruit juice, he instructed them to ensure quality at every stage and to promptly identify qualified personnel to manage and operate the unit. The NEC Secretary stressed that, beyond installing machinery, proper management and continued operation of the processing unit after its inauguration would be essential to ensuring quality juice production.

He then visited the Champhai Winery at Tlangsam, where he held discussions with the officials of the Champhai Grape Growers’ Society, which manages the winery. He was informed that frequent changes in government policies relating to the sale of wine had created difficulties for grape growers, although the establishment of the winery had helped improve their situation. Mizoram is the only state in the northeastern region with a grape winery. The winery currently produces 150 cases of grape wine per day, and discussions were held on the possibility of increasing its production capacity to a maximum of 600 cases per day. He encouraged the concerned authorities to continue their efforts to improve grape wine quality and further strengthen the livelihoods of farmers.

The NEC Secretary also visited the Oak Tasar Seed Farm under the Sericulture Department. Department officials explained their activities and the process of producing silk yarn from silkworms. He was informed that Champhai is the only place in Mizoram where all four varieties of silk—Oak Tasar, Mulberry, Muga, and Eri—are produced. He emphasised the importance of ensuring that silkworm rearers can market their silk yarn at better prices. Later, the NEC Secretary visited Zokhawthar, where he held discussions with officials of the Land Customs Station.