Lotha Hoho (LH) has expressed concern over the purported move of National Highways authorities to forgo land acquisition within Wokha town and take the existing carriageway as NH carriageway without widening in order to avoid payment of land compensation and standing structures.
In a press note, LH chairman Mhondamo Ovung and general secretary S Abenthung Ngullie said that the stipulated carriageway was given as 8.50 meters (28 feet) and hence formation width was carriageway plus the shoulders on both sides and the drain.
LH said people of Wokha district in general and Wokha town in particular have been eagerly waiting for the upgradation to a standard carriageway for NH through Wokha town.
Reminding that even today the traffic congestion was acute, the hoho said after a few years the problem was going to be “unmanageable” because the number of vehicles was increasing at an alarming rate. It stated that tender for NH-2 road project from 82km to 101km was being called and work was to be allotted soon.
However, LH stated that the road section from 72km to 82km was left out because of the non settlement of land and structures compensation issue.
Asserting that it was not aware of any land owner who had objected to land acquisition for the road project, the hoho therefore said it failed to understand as to why land acquisition should become an issue. “If the question is the amount of fund required for compensation, the Lotha organisations would take it as a discrimination since any development is for the benefit of the people and not for fund saving or economic viability,” LH maintained.
According to LH, all those who need to give land or standing structures to enable the widening of the roadway have already signed affidavits of their willingness to allow their land/structures to be used for widening the roadway for a full NH carriageway. LH said people of Wokha town and concerned land-owning villages were also willing to give cooperation and support to the authorities for widening of the roadway to a full NH standard.
Assuring to help settle any unreasonable or irrelevant claims by any land or structure owner, the LH has, therefore, urged NH authorities not to forgo the widening of NH 2 roadway within Wokha town.
LH also sought to clarify that Lotha organisations support Wokha Village Council (WVC)’s view that the tender rate should not be allowed below scheduled rates. LH said that such low tender rates hampered work quality and deprived genuine tenders who were willing to execute quality work.
Therefore, LH has urged the responsible authority to take up widening of the NH 2 within Wokha town as per NH norms.