Vishü Rita Krocha
Roads in Nagaland have always been a sore sight. There has never been a time when roads all across the state have been in a good condition. There is always a broken road somewhere— a landslide here, a landslide there, or a pothole-ridden road even right in the middle of a town.
By now, everyone is used to pothole-ridden roads, bumpy uncomfortable rides and all the painstaking trips required to commute around for everyday needs. Whether it is a ride around a town or village or travelling a longer distance, all these years, Nagaland state has grappled with a severe breakdown of road infrastructure.
Sure, it has seen some improvement in the last couple of years, especially in the state capital but the story of this year’s broken roads all across the state is particularly disconcerting. Coupled with drastic change in weather patterns, the state is already witness to unusual disasters starting this March when hailstorm wreaked havoc in many parts of Nagaland, destroying crops, homes and livelihoods.
Monsoon set in and everywhere across the state, there emerged news of roads being disrupted, disconnecting lives. More than ever, this year has probably seen the worst of roads in the state.
Somebody once said that, “we have no roads in Nagaland.” There is still no good drainage system or no drainage at all. And when it rains, everything is chaos including traffic, and jammed cars in a sea of stench and garbage. Our roads become a pool of dirt and an ugly inconvenience for everybody when otherwise, we complacently manage enormous dust during the dry seasons.
There is a story of a Naga who lived abroad and was invited to register for an off-roading experience. Not surprisingly, the Naga refused, saying, “I get to travel on such roads everyday in Nagaland. Why should I pay to do something that I get to do for free back home?”
While there are broken roads everywhere across the state, the landslide-affected area on the Dimapur-Kohima Road National Highway 29, near Dzüdza Bridge is currently the state’s primary focus as far as roads are concerned. It needs no more emphasis but the landslide has already affected more lives than one can possibly imagine.
Those who have travelled on the alternative Kohima-Dimapur routes, know what it takes to get to either of the destination—patience, enduring spirit, tolerance, maybe sacrifice even and a lot of other things one is not even prepared for. Somebody commented on Social Media that travelling on one of the alternative routes is like going to war.
By the look of it, the road will not be restored anytime soon. And this may not even be the last and worst of roads that we would be faced with, which is why it is important that we get to the root cause of it. It’s easy to say, “the incessant rain caused the landslide.”
Maybe, there are areas that are simply landslide prone but some are definitely occurring as a result of disturbance by human activities such as indiscriminate felling of trees, construction and quarrying. And these are important things that need to be considered while addressing the issue of our broken roads.
This is a guest editorial by Vishü Rita Krocha. She is the Publisher of PenThrill Publication and a senior journalist based in Kohima.
