(Left) Villagers of Old Ngaulong and Ngaulong Lodi in Peren district clearing jungle outgrowths at the Tening-Lekkie Road on August 23. (Right) A screenshot of a video clipping (taken last week) of commuters assisting a pick-up overcome a deep and slushy rut between Nchan and Ngam villages on the same Tening-Lekkie Road.
Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 23
Recently, there were video clippings of medical personnel on two-wheelers with COVID-19 vaccination kits on the backs, negotiating treacherous sludge roads under Athibung subdivision in Peren district.
In another part of the district, under Tening subdivision, villagers undertook a road clearing exercise at the long neglected Tening-Lekkie Road on August 23 adjacent to the boundary with Dima Hasao district, Assam. The jungle clearing exercise was undertaken by the village councils of Old Ngaulong and Ngaulong Lodi starting from the Zero Point to the Tepungki River.
According to the locals, the two villages become almost cut off to motor transport during the monsoon. Only vehicles bound for the two villages use the road as the villages fall on the far end of Peren’s border with Assam rendering them literally and figuratively forgotten to the state government and the legislators who represent the area.
The Tening-Lekkie Road not only links several villages with Tening subdivisional headquarters and Peren district headquarters but also serves as an inter-state link to Assam via Lekkie in Dima Hasao and also with Tamenglong, Manipur. It becomes almost inaccessible, especially when it rains.
When travelling on this road, human brawn becomes just as important as horsepower. It is not uncommon for commuters to carry ropes (as can be seen on the screen grab) to physically move or pull the vehicles, in which they travel, out of rut and sludge.
For the transporters, who move essentials on this road stretching some 30-40 odd kilometres, lives slide and swing, along with the vehicles, barely inches away from sheer cliffs.
