Dimapur, September 19 (MExN): The Dimapur Ao Youth Organisation (DAYO) has extended its support for the urgent restoration of the historic Niuland-Zadima road, describing it as an alternative lifeline route connecting Dimapur to Kohima.
In a press release issued on September 19, DAYO stated that while the Government projects itself as a welfare state, “its actions tell a different story.” It said the focus remains exclusively on NH-29, which over the years “has turned into a death trap and road coffin, claiming lives and causing unbearable hardship especially during the monsoon when rockfalls and landslides make the highway unplayable.”
The organisation maintained that, in stark contrast, the alternative Niuland-Zadima route to Kohima “has been willfully neglected.” It noted that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, through an order dated October 7, 2016, had sanctioned Rs 321.15 crore for construction of the Capital bypass road from Dimapur to Kohima (34.171 km) under the ISC scheme during 2016-17 on EPC basis. “Nearly a decade has passed yet no tangible progress has been made. This reinforce the suspicion that the Government’s priority lies in empty paperwork and rhetorics and not in providing genuine road connectivity to the people of the state,” the release stated.
DAYO added that the recurring roadblocks, casualties and “untold miseries” suffered by commuters cannot be brushed aside any longer. “Neglecting this alternative route is not just administrative inefficiency but a gross injustice and an unforgivable betrayal of public trust,” it asserted.
The organisation demanded that the Government of Nagaland “immediately take concrete action to upgrade and maintain the Niuland-Zadima road.” It cautioned that if the Government “continues its deliberate neglect and fails to act within a reasonable timeframe, the affected villages and like-minded youth organisations will be compelled to launch strong democratic forms of protest and agitation until justice is delivered.”
