Monsoon and landslide: The nightmare on NH 29 visits, again

Kohima, March 20: Muddy and slippery roads awaits this year’s monsoon season as wide-scale ‘earth-cutting’ activity for the construction of four-lane road on National Highway 29 is currently underway.

Even with the continuous downpour of rain during the past couple of days, the muddy roads are presenting a difficult time for commuters to travel the highway. And when monsoon arrives in two/three months, it is expected that the highway will turn muddier than what is being experienced now.

It is not a new story for commuters in Nagaland to experience difficult journeys during monsoon. This is because of the regular landslides caused by torrential rains every year.

During the past days, a couple of minor accident cases along the highway have been reported. Most drivers are said to be finding it difficult to control their vehicles due to the wet and slippery conditions of the road.

The monsoon is yet to arrive, and once it does, it is almost certain that the dusty roads will turn muddy and slippery. Going by the progress of the work, it is likely that the contractors will complete a major bulk of the ‘earth-cutting’ before the monsoon, people travelling between Dimapur and Kohima cannot escape the inevitable – muddy and slippery roads.

The four-lane highway project is being supervised by the National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) under ministry of Road Transports and Highways.

The stretch from Patkai Bridge till Pherima, covering 30 km which comes under package 1 & 2, is being carried out under the supervision of Ramkay ECI (JV), while Gayatri Projects Limited is overseeing the stretch from Peducha Check Post till Jotsoma By-pass road (Package 3), which runs 14 km.

On November 21 last year, the then minister for PWD (National Highways), Mechanical and Elections, Nuklutoshi Longkumer, along with a team of government officials inspected the ongoing works in some of the sites at Sechü Zubza, Peducha and Pherima.

The project manager of Gayatri Projects Limited, A Murali Krishna gave assurance to complete a stretch of 5 km by this April, while the project manager of Ramkay ECI (JV) GVP Rao also assured to complete a major bulk of the earth cutting before the monsoon.

The NHIDCL has floated tender for the stretch of road between Pataki Bridge and Khatkati (Assam); and once this is finalised, the ‘earth-cutting’ along this stretch will also begin at the earliest, informed Rishinandan, manager of NHIDCL.