Nagaland: NFHRCC, tribal bodies oppose exclusion from Foothills Road talks

DIMAPUR — The Nagaland Foothills Road Co-ordination Committee (NFHRCC), along with Dimapur-based tribal hohos and the Young Naga Action Committee on Foothills Road, has expressed opposition to the state government’s exclusion of six Naga tribes and the NFHRCC from further discussions on the Trans Nagaland Highway (Foothills Road) project.

In a consultative meeting held at Khermahal, Dimapur, on August 14, the gathering adopted three resolutions.

A press release on Friday informed that “the 13 Nagaland tribes: resolved to condemn the blatant move to omit the Chang, Khiamniungan, Rengma, Sangtam, Tikhir and Yimkhiung tribes, along with the NFHRCC, from the deliberations.

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The committee stated that these tribes and the NFHRCC had been actively spearheading the Foothills Road connectivity project from Tizit to Khelma since 2013.

It also resolved that any decision taken without the participation of “the 45 MLAs and the NFHRCC” would be unacceptable, adding that the legislators should not be treated as “second-class MLAs” in relation to the project.

Further, the committee opposed issuing the No Objection Certificate (NOC) for a 30-metre Right of Way (RoW) along the proposed highway stretch without proper consultation with all apex tribal hohos and the NFHRCC in a “conducive manner.”