Members of Kumlong Ward and IOC Taxi Union in Mokokchung town fixed several potholes along Mariani Road in between Milak Junction and New Market Road and at Rotary Junction all by themselves on Wednesday evening.
One of the taxi drivers, Chingkhong T Shiu, told Mokokchung Times that roughly ten of them organized and carried out the work themselves after realizing the larger benefit it would do for them, the passengers, and society at large.
“We hauled the soil and the boulder stone from Yimyu ward,” he informed.
“We have been facing a lot of problems because of such large potholes. It not only cause damage to our vehicles but brings great inconvenience to the passengers,” Tongpangjang, another driver at work added.
“We made this decision by ourselves because it will be good for all of us,” he continued.
When questioned if they had previously complained to the relevant authority, Shiu stated that they had never complained about the road condition to any official. They do, however, hope and desire that the relevant authority will pay greater attention to it.
“It will be good if the government does repair the road,” they said.
Potholes in the main road between Milak Junction and New Market have been present for quite some time now, causing much discomfort in travel and significant damage to vehicles as well as disturbing smooth flow of traffic. It also has a negative aesthetic influence on the town. Thus, quite understandably, passers-by and local vendors were spotted applauding the taxi drivers when the mended the potholes.
However, given that this newspaper has previously written about citizens mending roads on their own, we are left to question where the government and governance are.
In August alone, this publication has covered incidents when two wards – Artang and Marepkong – and a “Good Samaritan” group repaired roads, since they were fed up with waiting for the government.
In a similar vein, four youth organizations wrote to DC Mokokchung demanding immediate repair of the crucial Hospital Road after this newspaper’s June piece, “Hospital Road in Need of Emergency Care: Medical Complications Can Arise Traveling on Bumpy Roads,” was published.
These serve as illustrations of how the government machinery continues to fall short of guaranteeing citizens’ basic rights. The common refrain here is, where are the district’s ten elected MLAs? Where is the current administration?
The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways’ report, “Basic Road Statistics in India 2018-19,” lists Nagaland as having one of the lowest percentages of “Surfaced Road to Total Road” in the nation. Thus, it has almost become inevitable that every single citizen holds the elected representatives accountable.