An adage says it’s the journey, not the destination, that counts. If so, the journey on the Dimapur-Kohima National Highway 29, about 74 km long, is disillusioning. Over a decade ago, driving up to Kohima from Dimapur was a singular pleasure, though over time its deterioration could be seen and felt.
This road was built during World War II, connecting Nagaland and Manipur to Burma (now Myanmar). This entire area was a major theater of the war; the Battle of Kohima and the Battle of Imphal took place here. If you are a history buff, you’ll recall that the Battle of Kohima (together with the intertwined Battle of Imphal) was a turning point in the Japanese U-Go offensive into India in 1944 during the Second World War. You’ll also recall that in 2013, a poll conducted by the British National Army Museum voted the Battles of Imphal and Kohima as “Britain’s Greatest Battle.” You’ll also know of the internationally famous Second World War Cemetery at Kohima. But the drive I’m talking about is not about the World War II road and the foundations of the communications infrastructure the Allied Forces laid in the Northeast.
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It’s about a drive we will never experience again and the price we pay for that. Since the 2000s, this road has worsened, but even then, the hills and valleys on which it was laid remained intact, except for the “normal” landslides during the monsoons—typical of hilly regions. To shed some light on this, here is a piece of history: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee landed at Dimapur airport on a visit to Nagaland on October 27, 2003, from where he was scheduled to fly to Kohima on a chopper. However, the weather did not permit a chopper ride, so he had to travel to Kohima by road the next day, on October 28, 2003.
While addressing a public gathering at Kohima, Vajpayee spoke of his road trip on the Dimapur-Kohima road: “I had first-hand experience yesterday. Mother Nature wanted me to take this journey from Dimapur to Kohima. I was told that of all the roads in the state, this is the best. If this is the best, it is difficult to imagine what the worst is like.” In his address, Vajpayee said, “I am therefore pleased to announce that the BRO will immediately undertake significant improvements of the Dimapur-Kohima Road as part of making it a 4-lane highway.” So, out of the Rs 1,050 crore economic package he announced for Nagaland, Rs 400 crore was allocated for this highway. However, it took 12 years for the project to commence after Union Minister of Highways Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone in 2015.
Till now, it is “men at work” on this road, but it is not a “work in progress.” This isn’t only because of the monsoon, but also due to substandard quality of work, a suspected lack of expertise, a litany of excuses and justifications, the politicization of infrastructure development, and corruption and nepotism as a corollary of the lack of transparency and accountability. This can be said of almost all road construction and other infrastructure development activities in Nagaland, although there are a few well-built roads—a rarity.
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In those days, as we entered the snaking hilly road from Chumukedima to Kohima, the road used to be magnificent. It was guarded by green hills on the left side, known as Pagala Pahar, probably because of its “madness,” especially during rainy seasons when landslides proved the might of nature over and over again. But that also proved humanity’s relentless pursuit to tame the untamable because the road, too, persisted. The road along this Pagala Pahar is accompanied by the Chathe River (Dhansiri) on the right side. So with green hills on one side and a gurgling river on the other, the drive on this part of the road was spectacular. It did something to the soul that no medicine can do. It made memories no technology can make.
So little of that remains. While the road was broadened, our environment was destroyed. Now, with incessant rains, devastating climate change, and the breathless pace of “ushering in development,” frequent landslides occur, causing the road to collapse. In fact, some parts of the road split all by themselves, making them unsafe. Our hills are young, composed of shale, making our topography fragile. We are already in an earthquake zone. It now appears that the road-making authorities didn’t seem to study our environmental content and composition.
Consequently, in some parts, the road is eroding. So, for a dysfunctional 74 km 4-lane road, huge parts of our hills no longer exist, which means we can expect to see more environmental hazards and destruction. Yes, the volume of funds for road construction and development has increased manifold, but so has our irretrievable loss. Has this development been worth it? The increasing opinion is: why did we need a 4-lane road anyway? The old road, if repaired and maintained, would have been good enough for us. It was, after all, good enough to fight and win World War II. The perils of hasty and injudicious political decisions have grave consequences, especially in environmentally fragile hilly states.
Yet, this road has been hugely profitable and enriching for some people, as well as for sections of Corporate India. Here in Nagaland and elsewhere in the Northeast, we rarely ask who is actually profiting and benefiting from the central and state governments’ infrastructure development policies, plans, and projects, as well as the Act East Policy? We get too easily impressed by the thousands of crores that are allocated for this or that development in the Northeast. Take this Dimapur-Kohima road for instance. Where are all the materials, machinery, even the nuts and bolts, the expertise, and the labor required for road construction procured from?
As far as I know, the Northeast doesn’t manufacture JCBs, stone crushers, and road rollers, etc. So, even if we don’t have “developed” roads and our environment is destroyed, the policy for highways and other development continues, and so will the requirement for machinery, etc. These expenditures are defrayed from the funds allotted, which means we are not only short-changed by badly made roads, but a huge part of the allocations also goes out of the region. Some manufacturers are laughing all the way to the bank. Worse still, in the past couple of years, precious lives have been lost on the Dimapur-Kohima road. So where is our safety and development for which we paid and continue to pay such a heavy price? And really, can there be sustained safety and sustainable development without dedicated supervision and monitoring?
We need to stop being impressed by the funds allocated for any development in the Northeast and demand impeccable development delivery.
Monalisa Changkija is a Dimapur-based journalist, poet, and former Editor of Nagaland Page.