Dimapur, July 29 : Leaders of the Angami Public Organization (APO) have met with the Border Roads Organization (BRO) seeking more leverage on development and quality of roads in Dimapur and Kohima. The APO informed to have met with Bhatnagar, chief engineer of the BRO, besides his sector commanders and other officers at Dimapur. The date of the meeting was not mentioned in the press release that the Apo issued on Friday.
“The deplorable road conditions in Nagaland were discussed and APO cited out the road conditions especially in and around Kohima and Dimapur. The BRO stated that there is approximately 18 km of road in Dimapur town and 10 km in Kohima town,” the press release stated.
“The BRO are facing some problem regarding construction and maintenance of roads in Kohima and Dimapur for which they have requested the state government to take over the town area. There has been no response and no decision taken by the State Government till date.”
The APO also stated that the BRO explained that in the case of National Highway-29 ‘and other highways,’ it was “facing huge problem due to the construction of approach roads from the highway and stone quarrying along the national highway.”
This, the APO stated, “destroys the drainage system and in turn (affects) the condition of the roads. On this issue the BRO has requested the State Government and the public to co-operate with them for the maintenance of good road conditions.”
The organization has requested the BRO to start construction of new roads at Zhadima village as allocated to the latter, besides building the road below Kohima civil hospital.
“The road below Civil Hospital, Kohima due to landslide and soil erosion has become too narrow and dangerous for travelers and daily commuters. Similar conditions also prevail in Zubza, DzudzaRiver and APO requested the BRO to construct strong and permanent retaining wall starting from the river bed for effective control of landslide.”
The organization nonetheless lauded the BRO for constructing an “excellent drainage in Kohima town along the national highway.”
A complaint that the APO placed before the BRO was the quality of work. ‘It has been more than four decades since the BRO had been overseeing the national highways of Nagaland yet the quality and standard are in no comparison with our other neighboring north eastern states,’ the press release stated.
