Dogged by various problems and inordinate delays, the much hyped construction of the 4-lane highway from Purana Bazar Dimapur to Kohima along NH 29 (Asian Highway –I) has been running behind schedule from 2018 to 2019 and till today, the project appears to be far from being completed even this year 2023. Earlier, seeing the helplessness of the situation, the Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench in November 2019, filed suo moto PIL. The High Court, issued suo motu PIL where the Ministry of Road Transport and National Highways (MoRTH) and six others including the State government were made Respondents. A two-judge bench of the High Court- Justice Songkhupchung Serto and Justice Manish Choudhury- while passing the order, drew attention on a report in a news daily that appeared on October 9, 2019, which informed that the construction work of the four-lane road, entrusted to National Highway and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) began in the year 2015 with the stipulated completion time of three years, that is by 2018. Later the work was rescheduled to be completed by the end of 2019 and accordingly, specific instruction had been given to the respective contracting firms on several occasions. work undertaken by two construction firms–M/s ECI Engineering & Construction corporation limited and M/s Gayatri Projects limited. The four-lane has a total length of 42.48 Km and was approved in 2013 at a cumulative cost of around Rs 1570.71 crore and initiated in 2015. However even till today, not even 50% of the work has been completed. Even what has been completed appears to be plague with various problems such as non-adherence to road construction safety rules, poor quality materials and workmanship and worse of all, various cases relating to the road pending in the high court. There have been a series of ‘incident ’ along NH in which several were either killed or injured but the July 4 ‘rockslide’ literally proved to be the last straw. In the aftermath of the July 4 rockslide incident near old Chümoukedima check gate, where two persons were killed after rocks that hurtled from the cliff crushed the cars they were travelling in and also seriously injuring two others; the implementing agency National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited(NHIDCL) has attracted flak on technical and quality aspects. Concerns have been raised with NHIDCL by various organisations and institutions over non-adherence to construction rules, quality of material. The Nagaland Pollution Control Board(NPCB) had flagged the indiscriminate use of dynamite for rock blasting for fear of destruction of environment, injury to travellers and damage to vehicles. After the July 4 incident, the RPP on July, filed an FIR against the executive director of NHIDCL, contractors and sub-contractors, the consultancy firm, the state PWD and others involved in the construction of the four-lane on NH 29. It was also alleged by the RPP that the Deputy Commissioner Chümoukedima on March 25, 2023 cautioned NHIDCL over the use of sub-standard construction materials, poor engineering and workmanship including lack of prudent and sincere monitoring of work etc. RPP also warned about another potential danger at the site between Jharnapani and Medziphema where the slope of the cliff was at 90º. All these are credible issues which the state needs to act upon and also ensure that the 4-lane is built safe and also completed possibly by end of 2023.
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