[caption id="attachment_134100" align="alignleft" width="550"]
Youth engaging in the social work at State Highway on Tuesday.[/caption]
Our Correspondent
Kohima, August 22 (EMN): Neglected by the State government, Thenyizumi villagers undertook social work to repair roads on Tuesday after the heavy landslide completely cut off from the State capital from August 12 last at the Kohima-Zunheboto highway between Chetheba and Chakhabama.
The inhabitants of Chokri area under Phek district have been facing untold sufferings for weeks after the massive landslide occurred at Keyurü near Sedzu River (40km-42 km from Kohima) and a mudslide near old GREF camp (15km -16km from Chetheba).
The most affected villages were under Chetheba area i.e. Thenyizu village, K Basa, K Bawe, Chesezu village, Chesezu Nasa, Phuyoba and Thipuzu village.
Thenyizu village council along with women society, youth organisation, students’ union and intellectuals organised the mass social work on Tuesday and temporarily restored the road which was totally blocked since August 12 last.
Thenyizu village hired a JCB from VDB fund in order to clear the road for vehicular movement.
It was also informed that the PWD officials also visited the affected areas, however due to insufficient resources the restoration work could not be undertaken, said Thenyizu Village council chairman Zhothiyi Dawhuo. He also said that after the initiation of two land project, the village has had major restorations work four times in their jurisdiction.
After the social work, VCC also informed that the road is cleared for light vehicular movements from Tuesday evening onwards.
Thenyizumi Youth Social Welfare Organisation said the connecting road via Pfutsero is almost twice the distance which has also led to hike in taxi fare. One of the NST bus conductors from that area confirmed that both the bus plying in Chokri area have stopped for about a month due to the pathetic condition of the road.
Thenyizumi Youth Social Welfare Organisation, in a press release, requested the concerned authority to restore the highway early as their lifeline is being cut off for the past few weeks. It also informed that the villagers are doing their best to restore the highway with little resources available from their end.
It may be mentioned that the State highway and the development of this stretch into a two lane was taken up under the SARDP-NE (Special Accelerated Road Development Programme – North-East). The total amount sanctioned till 2012 was Rs 1222 crore. Subsequently, the earth-cutting work had started only to come to an abrupt halt in June 2012 for undisclosed reasons.
Earlier last year, the citizens of Thenyizu village, Chesezu village, Chetheba town, Chesezu Nasa and Chakhabama village have submitted a joint memorandum to Minister for National Highways & Mechanical Engineering, Nuklutoshi, through EAC Chetheba but till now there has not been any positive response yet.
