Kohima: Frustrated over the deplorable condition of National Highway-29 (NH-29), residents of Nagaland’s Khuzama village, bordering Manipur, staged a protest on Tuesday demanding immediate repair of the National Highway-29 stretch.
Hundreds of residents, including students, under the banner of Khuzama Students’ Union (KSU), along with members of the village council, Khuzama Youth Organisation, Khuzama Women Society, Khuzama Kohima Krotho, and concerned citizens from neighbouring villages joined the rally.
The protest, held at the highway stretch in Khuzama village, saw aggrieved community members venting their anger against the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) for its prolonged negligence in maintaining the road despite repeated requests and reminders.
Former Southern Angami Students’ Union (NASU) speaker, Nunese Sale, informed that NH-29, one of the oldest highways in Nagaland and a part of the Asian Highway (AH1) connecting Thailand, Nagaland, and Myanmar, has remained in a state of disrepair for over 15 years, causing immense hardships to commuters and residents.
He stressed that the road has become a nightmare for daily commuters, government employees, students, and businesspersons. Due to the poor road condition, he shared that students often fail to reach their institutions on time, resulting in low attendance and even missing examinations.
He highlighted that transporting sick and elderly persons to hospitals had become gruesome, especially during monsoon when the road becomes almost impassable, extending a usual 30-minute drive to Kohima into a four-hour journey.
As a mark of protest, the KSU and Khuzama Youth Organisation (KYO) issued a two-day ultimatum to NHIDCL to deploy machinery and begin repair work on the highway. Sale said that the students’ body and youth organisation would personally monitor the work to ensure that quality is not compromised and the project is completed within the allocated time.
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The villagers also appealed to the state government, district administration, and local legislators to intervene and direct NHIDCL to expedite the repair work, emphasizing that further delay would only worsen the suffering of the people.
As of now, there has been no official response from NHIDCL regarding the villagers’ demands.