Potholes road: A violation of “Right to life”

Soyhunlo Seb

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]OAD play a vital role in the economic development. History reminds us that, economic prosperity of a nation was not only because of the advancement in technologies but it was the road condition that promotes all round development. Today, if we view the road map of Nagaland in a living organism perspective and consider road as a vein than the “Land of Festivals” will resemble a sick / paralyse person. Unlike dictatorial setup of government, the priority of people’s elected government is to elevate socio-economic condition of its citizen. The competence and integrity of any government is measure by the level of prosperity in human welfare. We are living in the era of “Global village” where developed nations formulate economic policy to control less developed nations. Yet both investor and host nation benefit from each other. Nearing to 50 years of statehood but so far no worth naming companies from outside has invested in the state. Of the many obstacles, road condition is the most important sector that hinders outsider’s investment. In 2003, the then Prime Minister of India Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, gave a historical comment on the only worth National Highway of Nagaland. His remarks “I was told that of all the road in the state this is the best. If this is the best, it is difficult to imagine how bad the worst is”. What is the impact of his remark? After nearly 10 years of his comment I simply realised that his message has conveyed the negative image of the state government. Who will like to invest in a state where even National Highway failed to uphold its status? Since then whenever top leaders of our country visit, they are airlifted. In short “Time management”. Thanks to their busy schedule. In 2012, citizen registered their discontent over the road condition in the form of “Mission potholes” and many dramas were stage on the road but unfortunately it failed to give much impact. The voice of the citizen slowly dies away and we still travel in the same potholes road. Person who has travelled length and breadth of Nagaland will agree with me that there is hardly any road worth to be call road. Imagine how sick person, pregnant women, aged person etc., travel in such type of road. This visibly indicates depriving of right to life. Fortunately, Naga drivers are too expert in dealing with the potholes otherwise incident like Mumbai will happen every day in our road. What is the use of quality road and compensation after a life is taken, when all the comfort can be provided beforehand. The road we travel is not secure and it usually takes 24 hours to cover 100 kms. For forward people it is crime to waste a time but for Naga’s time is for time past and that is the reason why we are still behind.
Dynamic leaders of Nagaland have visited countless places in India and may have witness the road condition. Nagaland is not the only hilly state in India but still other hilly state can afford to have good road. Road is our face, it reflect the health of our economy. When outsiders visit, they first give comments on our road condition. They never comment on the palatial building by the road side and they never talk about the types of cars on the road. Potholes resemble pimples on our face. No matter how impressive we dress. People look at our face and comment. I think we need to take care of our skin. We talk big about our rich culture and tradition to the world. No doubt, we have a rich traditional history but we are not the only human race in the world that has rich culture. The richness of culture and tradition is measure by the extent of development and not by advertisement.
The third batch of DAN has just set their feet in school and it is premature to anticipate quality result from them. However, in the recently concluded 12th Nagaland Legislative Assembly not much has been discuss about the pathetic condition of the road. It is really unfortunate that only Rs. 66 lakhs is earmark for road maintenance and on the other hand, Rs. 4, 54, 50,000 is set for purchasing vehicles for people’s representative. Our respected leaders have enough vehicles but none opposed the idea. I wish some wise leader say “let’s divert the fund for road maintenance” instead discussion was on for maintenance of the vehicles. If well-off people are so apprehensive about vehicle maintenance what will be the condition of the common people? Chief Minister of Nagaland shows an example by refusing to buy a car for himself but regrettably none followed. Our leaders need to learn some ethical value of politic from the Chief Minister of West Bengal and Tripura. They are much ahead of Nagaland in teams of SGDP but still they drive a car which middle class people in Nagaland drive. People’s welfare is their top priority.
Who is answerable to this pathetic condition of road? What is the Govt. guideline for construction of road in Nagaland and how is quality managed? All black topping vanished in one season and public never heard Govt. initiating action on those responsible. Govt and person responsible for road construction should keep in mind that citizen have the right to travel in all weather road without having any apprehension of encountering landslide, potholes etc. Road is an important part of our environment and negligence of this sector is amounting to Human right violation. Though there is no explicit right to a healthy environment in the constitution of India. However the courts have acknowledged that environmental rights are part of fundamental right to life. Right to life has been interpreted in Article 21 of the Indian Constitution “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedures established by law”. In my opinion, Human right violation is not only when a person is subjected to torture, cruelty, inhuman treatment/ punishment but it also includes when a person is subjected to live in unfavourable environment. Citizens are conscious of their right and are aware that their basic right to life in healthy environment has been violated. During rainy season, road turn into waterways, main road in town and city turns into fishery pond, landslide, mudslide, runoff, gully erosion etc are regular features. Again in dry season one will experience a desert drive. I’m sure people who adore adventuring in wild road and desert will definitely love our road. Unless, the responsible department seriously apply the mitigation measures the problems will continue in a days to come.