The proposal to develop Dzükou valley into a world-class ecotourism destination with an eco-friendly luxury hotel would be a death sentence to the ecologically sensitive zone.
The recent INR 250-crore proposal to develop Dzükou valley into a world-class ecotourism destination with an eco-friendly luxury hotel and tourist facilities would normally have been an exciting and welcome initiative, but, in some other part of the world where corruption is non-existent or negligible and efficiency, technological and administrative, is high. The Dzükou valley is an ecologically sensitive zone. Bringing in a project of this magnitude is the sure destruction of an ecological hotspot. It is the death sentence of this pristine valley.
Kohima gets its water supply from southern and western Dzükou. This water is stored in the subsurface of the mountainous terrain, where conditions are conducive. Frequent forest fires have damaged this ecosystem. However, the mountains surrounding this valley have survived the destruction over the years. It is necessary to ensure that forest fires are stopped, totally. The grandiose ecotourism project plan will just hasten the destruction of Dzükou and also cause the end of our precious water; the valley will dry up, for sure.
Nagaland is still very primitive, as far as governance and development are concerned. We make grand proposals and bring in a lot of money, which the GoI is kind enough to grant. Do we ever realise that our easy money comes from the pockets of the hard-working, heavily burdened Indian Tax Payers? And, the good money that comes is spent irresponsibly. This is the reason why some of our ongoing infrastructural projects, which should have been completed in a few years’ time, are still continuing or stopped midway, after 2-3 decades.
We can never come to terms with the wanton destruction of the Tsiedukhrü range, which has resulted in deaths and continuous damage of the National Highway (NH) 29. While it is true that we need to develop our infrastructure, care should be taken to avoid or minimally develop ecologically sensitive zones. The widening of the NH-29 was necessary with increasing traffic, but not the entire stretch from Kohima to Chümoukedima, parts of which are highly unstable. Geologically, the Tsiedukhrü range is an extremely weak zone. The high relief and weak rocks pose grave danger. In August 2002, long before the present highway widening process started, this fragile zone was affected by rock falls and landslides. On 12th August 2011, a person died and some vehicles were damaged due to rock falls and debris slides. Widening this portion of the highway was the gravest mistake. Researchers of the Nagaland University had dwelt on the negative impact of road widening in the Tsiedukhrü area in an article published in The Morung Express on15th August 2011. Mention was also made in this article of the danger posed due to possible bank erosion by the Chathe River (Excerpt - The Chathe River is vigorously eroding portions of its banks, including the highway side. Therefore preventive measures to protect against toe erosion should be taken up urgently otherwise bank erosion, though restricted to a few places, will lead to collapse of portions of the already narrow highway). However, these observations were ignored, as is usually the case in Nagaland; we now have two portions of our highway in Tsiedukhrü badly damaged by the river.
By cutting more than five meters into the weak rocks, the natural support provided by the lower portions has been removed. This has left the slopes much steeper and hence, in critical condition, leading to continuous damage, and adding abundantly to our woes. Moreover, the NHIDCL appears to have used dynamite to blast the rocks of this zone during the early stages of the project. Such ill-informed processes shattered rocks beyond repair. This blasting affects rocks far beyond the proposed area of influence. Mining Engineers too blast rocks on the surface or underground, but they ensure the surrounding rocks are not damaged. This they achieve by Controlled Blasting. This clearly indicates that the NHIDCL does not have efficient engineers, nor do they have geologists who understand the terrain. This is also the reason why many portions of our highway, even beyond Tsiedukhrü are also in a mess and the NHIDCL cannot complete the long-overdue project in time.
Anyway, the damage to portions of NH-29 is done; such damage to sensitive zones is irreversible. Let’s prevent this from happening to the beautiful Dzükou valley.
G.T. Thong
Kohima