This letter concerns the Nagaland House at Vashi, Navi Mumbai, a government property that was completed in 2010 but has remained non-functional for the last 16 years.
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To,
Shri. Ajay Kumar Bhalla,
Hon’ble Governor of Nagaland.
Dr. Neiphiu Rio,
The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Nagaland.
Respected Sir(s),
Warm greetings to you all.
I write this open letter with a heavy heart, deep concern and a sincere sense of responsibility as a citizen, a Pastor, and a representative voice of hundreds of Nagas living in Mumbai, patients and families who continue to suffer silently since many years.
This letter concerns the Nagaland House at Vashi, Navi Mumbai, a government property that was completed in 2010 but has remained non-functional for the last 16 years. Today, it stands frozen, neglected and forgotten despite repeated assurances and public announcements.
Present Condition of Nagaland House, Vashi, Navi Mumbai: Nagaland House was envisioned as a home away from home for Naga students, working youth, patients seeking medical treatment and officials visiting Mumbai. However, even after 16 years, the building remains unused for its intended purpose.
Ever since I began my pastoral ministry in Mumbai in 2018, officials from the Government of Nagaland have visited the city on several occasions regarding this matter. Each visit was widely reported in local newspapers, announcing that Nagaland House, Mumbai, would soon be inaugurated or made functional. Sadly, the ground reality remains unchanged. The truth is simple yet painful: Nagaland House, Mumbai, is still in the Intensive Care Unit.
Today, Nagaland House has sadly become a liability. The ceilings are falling, floors are cracking, lifts are non-functional, walls are deteriorating, and most of the lighting installed 16 years ago is no longer working. Only a few security personnel are currently stationed at Nagaland House. It has also been conveyed that the Government of Nagaland continues to spend lakhs of rupees every month on maintenance, while not a single Naga resides there.
Our every visit at Nagaland House, Mumbai, reveals nothing but a Nagaland Government calendar hanging inside a deserted building. It feels less like a government house and more like a haunted structure of broken promises.
A Stark Contrast: Adjacent to our Nagaland House stand Meghalaya House, Assam Bhawan, Rajasthan Bhawan, Uttarakhand Bhawan, UP Bhawan, MP Bhawan, and including Mizoram House in Lower Parel, near TATA Memorial Hospital, all fully functional. Their people enjoy accommodations, support systems, cultural spaces and dignity. Only Nagas continue to suffer immensely without even the most basic facility in India’s financial capital.
Mumbai, A City of Hope and Hardship: Every year, hundreds of Nagas come to Mumbai forEmployment, Education, Official work and most painfully, cancer treatment, especially at Tata Memorial Hospital.
Mumbai is one of the most expensive cities in India. House rent near major Hospitals ranges from INR 60,000 to INR 1, 00,000 per month, excluding security deposit and brokerage charges. PGs and hotels cost INR 3,000-5,000 or more per day. Add to this food, travel, and the already overwhelming cost of treatment. Many families are pushed into debt, distress and despair, not because treatment is unavailable, but because support systems are absent.
A Cry from Cancer Patients and Families: What pains me the most is this - cancer patients and their families arrive in Mumbai almost every week, yet they have no place to stay.
Even more heartbreaking, when our people pass away, we do not even have a place to conduct a condolence service with dignity. Families are forced to pray outside the mortuary, under severe restrictions, before sending mortal remains back to Nagaland.
This is not just administrative failure. This is a human tragedy.
Many patients have passed away longing to see Nagaland House functional before they died. Many are still struggling today. Please hear this cry.
Unanswered Questions: There are cities like Delhi and Kolkata that have two Nagaland Houses each. Why is there not at least one functional Nagaland House in Mumbai? Why is Nagaland House Mumbai repeatedly neglected? Is it because official visits are few? Is it because decision-makers’ families have not needed treatment here in Mumbai?
These are uncomfortable questions but necessary ones.
A Spiritual and Cultural Void: In other cities, Nagaland Houses even have places of worship. In Mumbai, we are compelled to rent church every month for worship and community gatherings. This absence deeply affects the spiritual, emotional and cultural well-being of our people.
Administrative Delay and Lack of Follow-Up: Over the years, what has been consistently observed is a lack of sustained follow-up and continuity in negotiations with the Government of Maharashtra and other concerned authorities for settlement or clearance of occupancy. While administrative changes may have occurred, the issue itself has remained unresolved.Every passing year of delay increases financial loss, structural damage, and public disappointment. More importantly, it erodes trust in governance and deprives present and future generations of Nagas of a facility meant to serve them.
A Humble and Urgent Appeal: On behalf of the general Naga public in Mumbai and beyond, cancer patients and their families, students, working professionals and Church community, I humbly and earnestly request you all to look into this matter with seriousness and urgency and to make Nagaland House Mumbai fully functional within this year itself. Nagaland House must not remain a monument of delay.
The Naga community in Mumbai is ready to cooperate in every possible way, be it socially and voluntarily to make this a reality. We are not asking for luxury. We are asking for dignity, compassion and responsibility.
Yours sincerely,
Hamyan Phom,
Pastor, NCF Mumbai and Representative of the Naga Community in Mumbai.