It was very distressing to read a news report carried in a local daily about a central road project of 300 plus kilometre and amounting to over Rs 1000 crores being subjected to ‘extortions’ by underground group/s. If the report is indeed true, then we need to do something collectively involving the State government, civil society, tribal hohos and our national groups as this is a prestige issue for us. Earlier, when the project was started, there was high expectation that this particular road construction coming under the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme (Northeast) in Nagaland would become an asset for our people. We should remember that we Nagas do not have our own resource to even think about small projects leave alone hundreds of kilometre roads costing crores of rupees. All of us should therefore be grateful to the generous funding from the Central government as this is being done for our future benefit. In fact the project for two-lane roads was expected to be complete in a record 36 months. Although the concerned company has now denied that it was mulling to leave because of such pulls and pressures, the fact of the matter is that we all want more cuts and commissions on every project that comes into our State. And this is the reason development in Nagaland is half baked. Only recently we had commented in this column about the debilitating state of our roads and why we need to do away with the corrupt system—of taking kickbacks and commissions whether by our politicians and national workers or exorbitant profit for the contractors. This is the crux of the problem.
So what should we do? Nagas should start preparing our own road map for self-rule and governance. The time is not far when we may be called to shoulder greater responsibility. What is being given now in the form of development projects especially roads and bridges; they should be given priority for proper execution and timely completion. The roads that we build now will become our most valuable asset of transport and communication in the years ahead. All of us will be aware of the roads and bridges build during the British era in our State. Most of them have withstood the test of time and continue to serve us. Nagas should therefore have the foresight to promote and protect road construction projects currently being undertaken whether by outside companies, BRO, State PWD or local contractors. Good and proper roads will add value and strength to any future State. Our national workers and the political groups should in fact look at the future scope of things where roads will become common asset of the people. So why not have the foresight to exempt road projects being undertaken in Naga areas from the taxation net. In fact the UG groups should instead monitor such projects so that there is no compromise on the quality and also to ensure no misuse of public funds by corrupt politicians and authorities. So perhaps our national groups should seriously contemplate exempting certain sectors from taxation. Under the initiative of the Naga Students Federation (NSF), there is already an appeal to exempt the education sector. Similarly why not roads as well? You will be doing yeoman service for our future.
