Rain gods conspire with protestors’ cry for good roads

On Saturday, nature virtually stood in solidarity with protestors in Dimapur who had gathered to raise their voices demanding good roads. As if by divine intervention, the rains came and, lo, filthy rivers dressed as roads also joined the protests, says our Senior Reporter Temjenrenba Anichar 

DIMAPUR, MAY 14 : It surely was more than mere coincidence–like some indefinable force was at play to conspire with the elements with piercing symmetry. How else does one explain the elaborate theatre that unfurled on Saturday, May 14: a group of citizens assembled in the morning at downtown Dimapur to demand better roads in Nagaland and in the afternoon– as if lending support to the mortals’ misery– the rain gods poured down in bucketfuls to convert the dusty, craterous into virtual rivers.

The first act of this elaborate theatre occurred at the Supermarket early morning when a group of people, under the banner ‘Concerned Citizens of Nagaland,’ gathered to participate in ‘peaceful and democratic’ protests against the deplorable road conditions in Nagaland. It was staged with the additional purpose of demanding better roads across the state.

Around 200-300 people from Dimapur, who had came to attend the protest event, were divided into three groups and deputed at Purana Bazaar junction, Nagarjan junction and the Plaza. From there, they pasted stickers on vehicles venting demands for better roads. 

The volunteers, mostly youth, were out on the streets pasting the stickers till 12 noon. Later they converged at the Clock Tower junction, where they placed placards and banners carrying similar messages, around the city’s traditional symbol of protest. 

The volunteers also signed a memorandum, demanding “good quality roads” in Nagaland; it was addressed to the governor of Nagaland. 

The central message of the memorandum to the governor:

“We feel left behind in terms of development when compared to neighbouring states and therefore we appeal to the government to provide quality workmanship for long-lasting and progressive development. We take this opportunity to further appeal to the government to rescue the citizens through progressive governance in the interest of public welfare.

“Therefore, we seek your personal intervention into the matter to direct the officials concerned to implement road repair works on a war-footing. We are hopeful that the cries of the citizens would not fall on deaf ears and that the Government will heed this genuine desire of the masses and provide good and lasting roads to the citizens of the State at the earliest on priority.” 

According to a member of the Concerned Citizens of Nagaland, Simon Kelio, people who had joined the campaign on Saturday were ‘those who did not sell their votes during the elections.’

 “They say that the road condition is the reflection of our voting behaviour. But those of us gathered here today have not sold our votes. And our request is that ‘do not politicize the voting processes’,” he said. Kelio also emphasized that the campaign was not solely against “bad roads or potholes” in Dimapur but as much for the “overall condition of roads in Nagaland.” 

Another member of the group, Daniel Swu, informed that the volunteers had printed more than 10,000 slogan-stickers for the campaign. A portion of it was dispatched to other districts where similar campaigns are to be undertaken in the days to come, he said. Swu also reiterated that the campaign was not politically-motivated. 

After the youths had registered their “dismay with the deplorable condition of roads in Nagaland” by taking to the streets of Dimapur, the second act of the story commenced: At around 3 p.m, the rain gods entered the narrative via a downpour that lasted about an hour. 

The result in the aftermath was an elaborate, visible manifestation of the citizens’ dismay and the very cause for their campaign. As the pictures here indicate, the entire stretch of the muddy road beyond the Thahekhu-Singal Angami intersection was swallowed up in knee-deep, sewage, floating garbage from unattended public dumps. 

Their misery attained new proportions because the flooded rainwater came accompanied by garbage left unattended for weeks, reportedly because the municipality’s sanitation truck could not enter this side of the town due to an ongoing road construction. 

And all that it took was an hour of rain.