(LEFT) Villagers working on the People’s road in Tamenglong district, Manipur. (RIGHT) IAS officer Armstrong Pame with his guests from Nagaland, Peter Rutsa and Victor Dzuvichu
Peter Rutsa, Victor Dzuvichu and Keren R. Rose for The Morung Express
It is not every day that one gets to meet a real life hero much less interact with them. Peter Rutsa and Victor Dzuvichu got lucky and met this man from Impa Village (Tamenglong) who has become a household name. Hailing from a family of seven siblings Mr. Armstrong Pame, a man with a heart of gold, is not only the first IAS officer from his community but probably one of the youngest IAS officers in the country. This man has already made waves with his internet funded road project which will now connect Tamenglong with Haflong district in Assam. On hearing of the heroic project, Peter and Victor set out on a road trip for Tamenglong to witness this wonderful initiative first hand and also meet the man and the people behind it.
The route was to Tamenglong via Khonoma- Dzülakie- Benreu- Tening- Barak River- Khongphung (Manipur)- Tamei- Tamenglong. The perilous journey (which included trials like getting lost, sleeping under the roof of a kind stranger and offering them a litre of fuel, which by the way is used for medicinal purposes in the area!) finally ended as Peter and David reached Tamenglong, dusty and hungry but nonetheless excited at the prospect of what lay ahead. Luck favoured the duo as they met a man called James who not only fed them but also informed Armstrong, who then invited them to his workplace. Says David, of his first encounter with Armstrong, “my first look at Armstrong was nothing like I imagined, infront of me stood a young man in his mid-twenties, I had expected him to be much older”.
Nestled along the borders of Manipur and Assam separated by the Chiri river, Tamenglong is a district of Manipur with a sizeable Zeme Naga population (a two days drive away from the nearest Railway Station in Dimapur). The many villages here are still without road connectivity including Armstrong’s Village. It was the conviction that life for people here would improve if there was a road connecting Tamenglong to Haflong that convinced Armstrong to begin his big project.
He realised that he could enlist the help of friends on his Facebook account (he is a member of a Zeliangrong Naga group and The Naga Blog which has about 4500 members and 20,000 members respectively). Doing the math he calculated that if each person contributed Rs 100, he could easily collect cash to the tune of 20 lakhs, a boosting factor indeed. Luck favoured him as the Times of India broke this news in the media the first night it was posted on Facebook, an American even called him promising to donate 4,000 dollars if this project really took off.
Sharing this idea with his own people was another ball game, everyone thought he was crazy and refused to take him seriously. But nothing could shake the determination of this young man as he set his heart out to make this crazy project a reality. The sitting MLA of his constituency thought the project would never be possible since there was not a single penny sanctioned for this project from the Government, however this attitude changed when Armstrong completed the first 5 kms of the project, with the help of friends and who donated in terms of cash, machineries and man power. Ably supported by his two brothers Jeremiah, Frank and their motley crew of well- wishers, this once crazy project is on the verge of the first phase completion, with just about 1 kms left to connect Tamenglong with Haflong.
Below are excerpts from a tete-a-tete with the man himself (by Victor Dzuvichu exclusively for the Morung Express)
Victor- How has the journey been so far? The fund drives?
Armstrong- Well so far everything has been good, I won’t deny the fact that we faced tremendous hardships through this journey but we were able to maintain our grit. We have been receiving donations through Facebook friends to the tune of about 35 lakhs till date, we generated an amount of about 3-4 lakhs from a salt project, the machineries that we are using have been lent to us free of cost from well- wishers. The publicity has been good with all major News Channel in India and a Facebook filming crew coming over to highlight our plight and the project to the nation and the world. This project has opened the villager’s eyes to a whole new world which was just alien to them few months back. Critics have been silenced, rumours that we were making benefit out of this project have been cleared, but these are common human nature everywhere so we didn’t give it a second thought.
Victor- As you are on the verge of completing the road, what do you plan to name the road?
Armstrong- So far most of the people call the route as ‘The People’s Road’ on a personal note, it doesn’t really matter to me what we name the road, all that matters is the road should be motorable and help people.
Victor - In what ways will this road benefit the local populace?
Armstrong- The benefits are many, for instance, the major chunk of Tousem sub division will have road connectivity something which was not possible few months back, earlier people walked about 100 kms to reach Tamenglong, a 14 hours walk for an adult and two days in the case of women and children, but with the road this huge time span has been cut short, and the people can avail medical facilities during emergencies. The biggest benefit according to me is the economy; once the road becomes motorable the Villagers can sell their products not just in Tamenglong or Imphal but even outlet it to Haflong and Dimapur too. Economic stability would eventually bring better living conditions, better education and a better future for the Villagers, and that for me is the biggest boon for a society. Another benefit is a better natural environment, since the villagers will no longer concentrate on Paddy cultivation ( jhum ) for their livelihood, large chunks of virgin forests can be saved.
Victor - So tell me more about you as a person?
Armstrong- Well I still call myself a Village boy, I was born in Impa Village to a family of seven siblings, my family shifted to Tamenlong in 1989, I started my education at 6 years in 1990, passed out my matriculation at 14 years as I was able to jump two classes in a year because of my performance, and then onto St.Edmund’s, Shillong and St Stephen’s New Delhi. Since my 3rd standard I wanted to become a DC, and worked hard for it and now here I stand today as an IAS officer, I am looking forward to accomplishing my ambition. Life was hard for us back then, my father was a teacher earning just 7,000 per month, supporting seven children, when I was pursuing my higher education away from home, going to bed with an empty stomach was not uncommon. But I am thankful to God, because those hardships taught me great lessons in life, I can relate to poverty which I believe has been a gift to me.
Victor- What are you going through mentally now that the dream is nearing completion? It must be deep emotionally.
Armstrong- I am happy however, it doesn’t end for me here, there is still so much to be done, this is just the first phase, we need to metal the roads and then there is the challenge of keeping the road motorable during the monsoons, there is the challenge of building a bridge across the Makhru river and the Villagers are requesting me to make the roads accessible to Heavy Duty trucks too. Two Villages have approached me to help them in bringing road connectivity to their Villages too, and I am also raising funds with NGOs to organise regular cataract operations. Being the first IAS from my community there are a lot of expectations, I don’t know if I will be able to accomplish them all but I will give my best. I lead a pretty boring life with just a normal job and these social activities truly make me live.
Victor- What is your message to our Naga generation?
Armstrong- Honestly, there is no dearth of talent in our Naga society, we have the ability to compete in every field, what we lack is perseverance and patience to accomplish our goals. A little more of perseverance and patience and we can make it big. Our society lacks positivism too, we are more concerned in finding faults with others, a factor detrimental in the decline of many society. A little more perseverance, patience and huge doses of positivism will bring a brighter future for our society.
Coming back home where this reporter caught up with them, Victor says of the work going on, “We were amazed to see the workmanship skills of the Villagers, with just crowbars and spades they were able to so finely align the roads where machineries couldn’t go, giving their best knowing this one effort meant a brighter future for them and the generation to come. The acute shortage of water, the cold winter nights were some hardships faced by them but the determination to make this project a success drove them to overcome these hardships, we learnt that every household from the villages that the road passed through, has been donating one chicken everyday for the workers, and 6-10 volunteers from each Village joined them daily”.
The First phase of this road project is done yet there is still a lot more to do, with the monsoon season approaching, more funds are needed to make this project a success. We can make the dreams of these little known villages a reality with the little that we can contribute. Here is an earnest request to everyone reading this- let us make a difference, let us move beyond boundaries, petty bickerings, mud slingings and reach out to our less fortunate cousins in the South. We can help in making their dreams a reality; remember it is when we give that we receive.
