Road to ruin: NH-29 crippled, commuters stranded in Nagaland

KOHIMA — Relentless efforts are being made to ease the inconvenience of commuters by restoring traffic on National Highway-29, which has been completely blocked by a major landslide near Dzüdza Bridge for days, and Kohima Traffic Police is on standby to man the traffic as and when the road is opened for vehicles.

An official of M/s Brand Eagles, the NHIDCL-engaged construction company for package-III (two-lane) where the stretch comes under, told Eastern Mirror that they were hopeful of opening one-way traffic by the evening of August 22, Thursday, provided heavy rainfall subsides.

Once it opens, heavy vehicles will be given priority to pass through, it was informed.

When this newspaper visited the affected area on Wednesday, the challenge posed by the rain to restoration along the 100-150 meters of the landslide-affected stretch was palpable.

The continuous flow of slush soil from about 300 meters above the road is creating great difficulty for people clearing the debris, it was told. To control the mudslides, some of the workers were engaged in streamlining water sources uphill, trying to fix hume pipes to divert the flow of water. However, the workers lives are put at risk as soil instability could result in mudslides anytime.

As of Wednesday, the company had engaged five excavators, 14 dumper trucks, one wheel loader, one backhoe, and more than 10 labourers to clear the blocked road. Labourers are working in shifts – night and day – to restore the highway, it was informed.

The company said that it has “sufficient machinery” but cannot bring in many at a time due to space constraints.

Also read: ‘How will we survive?’ ask truck drivers stranded along NH-29 in Nagaland

A committee headed by additional deputy commissioner and CEO DDMA Kohima as convener and six members including executive engineer PWD (NH), executive engineer PWD (R&B), executive engineer PHED (Rural), SDO Sechu-Zubza, assistant manager NSDMA and nodal officer for Kohima, and district project associate DDMA Kohima, assisted by the Jotsoma Youth Organisation (JYO), visited the landslide area and surveyed the uphill stretch on Wednesday.

After the visit, JYO president RokozhalieGwirie said the team had identified some of the water sources uphill along the landslide stretch that could be triggering the landslides.

Tracing the water sources and diverting them to the main river might reduce the sinking of soil, he added.

The JYO’s plan of cutting a one-way road for public convenience, after a survey conducted on the uphill stretch three days ago, was shelved as the area started sinking when the team visited on Wednesday. The loose soil uphill, stretching almost a kilometre from the National Highway, could prove fatal if it caves in.

Gwirie said that a major landslide had occurred along the same highway stretch decades ago, destroying all the fields below the road and completely blocking the traffic. There was no machinery then, so the villagers cleared the debris manually.

This time too, the Jotsoma youth have been assisting the company and the administration in overseeing the works and traffic on site. Informing that three sites have been identified to dump the debris, Gwirie requested the companies to bring in more machinery to speed up the clearance work.

Nodal officer, Kohima NSDMA Thejangulie Zao told this newspaper that they are waiting for the rain to subside to bring out a 3D map using drones. The NSDMA is also expected to carry out geotechnical investigation around the affected area in a day or two, which the official said will help understand the position under the earth surface and take measures accordingly for a permanent solution.

But for now, it’s about the immediate solution, which is to open the road for vehicles to pass through, he added.

Sources said that many factors, like water sources from multiple locations, stone quarrying activities uphill and the construction of a national highway, could have triggered the landslides apart from heavy rainfall.

It was told that two families residing along the affected stretch of road have been relocated to a safer place since August 18, following the order from Kohima Deputy Commissioner.

The landslide has also left dozens of trucks stranded along the Kohima-Dimapur four-lane road, forming serpentine queues. Some of the truck drivers said they have been stranded for several days and were running out of groceries and food supplies. They added that prices of essential commodities sold near the affected site keep increasing on a daily basis.

They also expressed gratitude to various groups who had provided them with groceries, tea and snacks for free.   

Meanwhile, the All Nagaland Taxi Association has fixed the taxi fare for to and fro between Kohima and Dimapur at INR 500 per passenger after the route diversion.