Bad road syndrome

 There are two sides of the story about the condition of roads, especially in Dimapur,where some good and some bad are evident. Bad roads not only add to misery to the travellers but also invite huge cost in terms of loss of hours, damages to vehicles and adversely affect health conditions of the travellers. After the current PDA coalition assumed power in March 2018, it promised to effect a facelift of all roads within important cities such as Kohima and Dimapur.It must however, be also admitted that roads in other urban towns have been done up and to great relief of pedestrians, motorists and public. However, good roads don’t just happen after black topping the surface. Roads can remain good only if necessary measures are undertaken to prevent its untimely deterioration. It is a fact that roads are not built to last forever but they can last as long as they are properly constructed and cared for by the departments and the public. One evidence of how roads deteriorate badly during three to five years is water logging due to lack of proper drainage. Without drains, flooded rain water percolates into the inner layers of the road carpet and gradually loosens the mixture to the affected portion. As vehicles drive over the weakened area, the bitumen layer along with carpet begins to crack and a crater or pothole is formed. This continues until the damaged area causes more erosion to the nearby areas and result in more craters and roads without bitumen cover etc. While two of the roads within Dimapur- entire stretch of GS Road and the road from Walfords traffic point towards Burma camp- are totally shorn off bitumen topping. Even the highway from Dillai gate to Dhobinalla traffic point linking GS Road is fast deteriorating. This particular road was constructed during 2001-02 and even after more than fifteen years, the road remained as good. Interestingly, this road stretch has no visible roadside drains. A few potholes developed since five years back and today more potholes are visible and some stretch have suffered major deterioration. Lack of maintenance during the past eighteen to nineteen years has resulted in gradual deterioration. The department responsible should be reminded of the saying “a stitch in time saves nine”. In other states there are contractors who have adequate engineering and technical knowledge or who are experienced and conversant with construction works. Compromising with quality should not be permitted. This is one of the reasons about the poor quality of infrastructures in Nagaland. It is also a fact that the Schedule Of Rate(SoR) fixed on various items for any particular period, are more than double or even triple the cost in the local market. Over and above this aspect, most government civil contract works are invariably subjected to the “real juice” called cost escalation that can shoot up to even one and half or twice the original estimate. The other factor that determines the durability is workmanship and this is an issue dueto lack of accountability. There have been enough reports published in the local media about poor quality of work. It may also be suggested that the state roads and bridges authority should enforce the laws and also ensure that monitoring is undertaken by a totally separate and independent branch that may also include prominent citizens