Z Lohe
Of late, the Govt. officers including the Chief Minister of Nagaland have been appealing to the public of Kohima town in particular to extend their cooperation to the proposed transformation of Capital Kohima into a ‘Smart City’. According to Webster Dictionary, Cooperation means ‘To operate together for a common object.’ To Cambridge it means “To work together with someone in order to achieve the same aim.’ The word cooperation is therefore the most befitting vocabulary to be used by those authorities in their appeal for getting peoples’ support while contemplating to give facelift to Kohima town with few hundred crores of rupees.
No better opportunity may come than what this flagship of ‘Smart City’ which is now in the offing as for Nagaland Govt. to make the State capital Kohima presentable worth its name. It is time for people in power to make a comprehensive master plan for the proposed improvement. It is time for the Govt. to consult the experts, if any, and sift for the best and sustainable basic programs for the durable improvement. Should there be any want, it is also advisable to seek opinions of those technocrats from outside so as to avoid wasting fund for futile and temporary eyewash.Few private individuals voluntarily shared personal opinions for Kohima Smart City via media. As layman myself, I would like to join them as I deeply feel that the focus should be on the basic traditional indispensables rather than high profile items.
1. Are the authorities serious about land slide prone zones in Kohima Town. Will there be any priority for its preventive measures? It is not rubbish to talk about landslides in Kohima. Lest adequate preventive measures are considered, all our intensive capital investments can be washed down in a monsoon.
2. Everyone is talking about roads in the State of Nagaland. Some of the roads are 52 years old. Many roads are several years old. All are roads under State PWD or BRTF are aging with potholes. The so called carpeted roads give tougher ride than non-carpeted roads. I hope the nodal authorities are sincere enough to have comprehensive plan to convert Kohima Town roads into durable roads which can become catalyst to the other areas that will follow in future. Without durable good roads, Kohima will never become smart.
3. Water supply to Kohima Town has to be improved. I don’t trust the water pumping project at Sidzu river to be a success. If the project becomes operational, still I will not trust the water quality which may do more harm to health than good. I am sure there is a way out to bring good and sufficient water from somewhere. Kohima Town will not become smart unless sufficient water is made available to common man.
4. During the last few months, Kohima Town has been feasting on very regular power supply. Prior to the advent of Smart programs to Kohima, it has already become smart for the time being as far as power sector is concerned. Having no technical knowledge and yet, is it advisable to go for underground cable system for power supply in Kohima? My simple desire is, if the overhead criss-cross power cables in the town disappear, it will give new look. I am sure it will be capital intensive.
5. Sanitation has to be given priority too. Drainages have to be streamlined. Drainage system in plain sector like Dimapur is intricate, and yet it is simple for hilly terrain like Kohima. Yet, even when the infrastructure is improved, our town may not look cleaner unless we educate people not to litter around. Repeating what I said earlier, what a hopeless regular battle it is for a hundred sweepers in Kohima to overcome thousands who litter around unconsciously and carelessly everyday. If sincere attention is paid to these aspects as improvement of drainages and education of general public on the importance of sanitation, it can give a different look.
With the above basic needs improved and without immediate installation of CCTVs, Kohima will become smarter. High profile gadget like sophisticated CCTV installations at Kohima and Dimapur without quality roads, without drinking water and without regular power supply will make our towns only dud and dull. Without uninterrupted supply of power, CCTV will be decorative piece. CCTV is not useless. Yet, the primary objective of CCTV installation is to detect the illegal activity of anyone which evades human eye. Good, denizens deserve freedom from such menace and therefore its eradication matters.
Nevertheless, what ails the Naga society today? The dishonesty, selfishness and greed prompt people in power to do broad daylight robbery of the public exchequer. Can CCTV detect who are siphoning not thousands but lakhs and crores away by which Nagaland is reduced to a bankrupt State? Are the planners interested to detect and view the sparrows pecking at the few seeds of the drying paddy at the periphery of the mat? What about detecting the big fat rats that are eating and finishing the paddy in the barn?
My believe is very traditional. Initially, instead of CCTV, motivate Police forces to be smart and proactive. Do the DGP and the hierarchical Police officers know that the whole work force is a demoralised lot today? Which Police sepoy will sacrifice service and life for public security when he is not backed up by his superior officer? Who the hell will the sepoy remain a fool and give dedicated service when all the perks due to him are eaten by the star studded
comrades? What moral strength the work force can be expected to have when hardly a uniform without spare is provided once a year? Have change in the attitude of the responsible Police officers towards their sepoys in the sense that the morality of Police sepoys has to be boosted. If so, they can act more effectively than CCTV. For want of space let me be brief though I have something more relevant to say.
One upon a time in Nagaland, the Minister in-charge of Education purchased Operation Tables and you know where do one uses the Operation tables. Not in schools definitely as no operation takes place in classrooms. Again, when the much publicised 500 bedded Referral Hospital in Dimapur was under construction, flash doors were bought and brought to the site. Since the structures were under construction, it was not possible to fix the flash doors and had to allow that very, very expensive item to decay. And again, what did the land owners know the technique, but the field officers taught the innocent land owners to dig pits in their waste lands to be taken over by NEPCO for Hydropower at Doyang. Filling the pits with bamboo mugs filled with water and in each of those flower pots, fresh cut orange tree branches were installed. Such fields looked like valuable orchards and thus pictures were taken when the plants looked fresh for the purpose of compensation at higher rate. These are few instances out of innumerable by which Nagaland has been walking backward.
We all recently read about the disclosure of the proposed ropeway at Kohima. The main purpose is to ease the terrible daily traffic chaos.
I personally do not oppose such innovation. When I came across the story, I was immensely amused by the imagination. That the cable cars are operational only with electricity. When cable cars are in operation, if load shedding is suddenly imposed, the cars will automatically get stranded high up in the air. Then alarm bell has to be rang followed by emergency rescue teams for stranded passengers.
The whole Kohima town will then be placed under chaos including the traffic. That is not all but the next day, the news papers will be front-paged with stranded car photos with irritating criticisms why the Govt. has introduced risky transportation service. Is it going to lend additional problem than easing out the existing ones?
I hope the political leaders and the bureaucracy will not adopt similar strategies as above (the previous para) while smarting Kohima with substantial receipt of fund. For transforming Kohima Town into the most smart habitation, KVC, APO and AYO are ready as found. As the Govt. of Nagaland has sought cooperation from the denizens, whether the land owners or anyone who has become Kohima citizen will not hesitate to give the best cooperation because who will not like to be part of smarter Kohima.
Yet, my question is whether the Govt. of Nagaland will cooperate with itself is the hardest job. Siphoning funds out of pilferages like percentage deduction for party fund, percentage deduction for factions, percentage deduction for elected representatives, percentage deduction for officers and so on will be self non-cooperation.
Compromising the quality workmanship, namesake and cosmetic patch-ups in any undertaking will be self non-cooperation. Prioritizing the high profile but useless items at the expense of the prerequisite schemes with sheer intention to manufacture easy money will be self non-cooperation.
Rs.400 crores is a good money. If this much fund is to be honestly spent on the requisite items for the sake of the State Capital, we will definitely see change. But should there be any failure it will be not because of the non-cooperation of the general public but because of the non-cooperation from the decision makers and the field officers. Should there be partial or full percentage failure, it will be because of abuse of power for greed. Nagaland’s capital Kohima deserves better treatment definitely. This is the opportunity for her to get that treatment as deserving.
It is time for the general public to be watchful over the activities of making Kohima smarter and react appropriately on time with gut for our own sake. Shall we watch the happenings as mute spectators or shall we make it happened.
