Naga Shopping Arcade in deplorable condition

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Nov. 18 (EMN): The Naga Shopping Arcade at Supermarket in Dimapur, which earlier housed a bus-sumo station and a ticket counter in the basement, is in deplorable condition, posing a risk to the life of people living in the building.

The basement of the first building in the complex, which usually gets flooded during the monsoon, has been vacated but the structure appears to have become weak and unsafe for people to reside there.

Acknowledging the risk, Senior Executive Officer of Development Authority of Nagaland (DAN) Noleto Visa told Eastern Mirror that the building is becoming dangerous for the residents.

However, he said DAN is not in a position to carry out any developmental work due to fund constraint, adding that it cannot ask for any grant as the government has been hit by fiscal deficit.

Meanwhile, he pointed out that they could have carried out few works (renovation) if the tenants of the building pay the rents on time and without defaulting but that was not the case.

‘The only solution,’ he said is to construct a proper drainage from the complex till the Dhansiri river.

‘But the drainage will be very long which will cost a lot. What we have been doing is pumping out water whenever there is a flood-like situation,’ he added.

Besides the maintenance issue with the complex becoming old, the outlet of the drainage can’t withstand high water velocity as the inlet or the compound is lower, thus prone to flooding during monsoon.

If the government feels the need to revamp the structure, it will hopefully do so, said the DAN officer. ‘However, we are preparing a report of the complex to be submitted (to the government), so that a solution is found before any calamity takes place,’ he added.