Maytas-Gayatri incurs huge debts
Eric Miachieo
Kohima | August 12
The ongoing two-lane road construction works appear to have run into rough weather with villagers complaining of damages to their fields besides the employees of the firms engaged in the construction – Maytas-Gayatri Joint Venture – running up huge amounts in debt as a result of taking commodities in credit from the highway shops.
The situation has become such that villagers have issued an ultimatum to either give the villagers financial assistance or compensate those affected. It was learnt from reliable sources that the affected villagers of Sekruzu area VCC under Phek district and Mtsiigo VCC under Zunheboto district had a joint meeting on the issue wherein they decided to issue the ultimatum to the authorities to look into their grievances failing which, they warned, they would be compelled to initiate their own course of action.
The villagers are particularly complaining that their paddy fields are being affected as the ongoing works on the project have damaged the water canals channeling water from the rivers and streams to their fields besides damaging the water supply pipeline in almost all the areas within the stretch of the works in progress. Seeking to remind that the majority of the Nagas depend mainly on agriculture for their livelihood, they have appealed to both the firms engaged in the construction work and the state government to look into the grievances of the effected villages.
Also, the villagers are complaining that employees and workers engaged by the Maytas-Gayatri are running up debts in terms of lakhs of Rupees in the shops located within the stretch of the highway by availing commodities on credit.
As a result, the shop owners are unable to re-stock and supply essential commodities to the villages, the sources
said. Moreover, the stretch of the road between Sakhaba point and Zunheboto has been badly affected as a result of mudslides, making it impossible for vehicles to ply.
Citing these grievances, the villagers have therefore appealed to the authorities concerned to look into their grievances at the earliest.
