The Nagaland Foothills Road Coordination Committee (NFHRCC), along with Dimapur-based tribal hohos and the Young Naga Action Committee on Foothills Road, held a consultative meeting on Thursday at Kher Mahal, Dimapur, to discuss the Trans Nagaland Highway (Foothills Road) project. The meeting, which saw extensive deliberations, culminated in the adoption of three resolutions.
In the first resolution, 13 Nagaland tribes strongly rejected what they termed the State Government’s “blatant move” to exclude six tribes (Chang, Khiamniungan, Rengma, Sangtam, Tikhir, and Yimkhiung) as well as the NFHRCC from further deliberations on the project. They stated that all six tribes and the Committee had been steadfastly advocating for the Foothills Road connectivity from Tizit to Khelma since 2013.
The second resolution declared that any decision taken without the inclusive participation of all 45 MLAs from the 15 Nagaland tribes and the NFHRCC would not be acceptable. The statement said the elected representatives should not be “rated as second-class MLAs” on this issue.
In the third resolution, the meeting opposed issuing a No Objection Certificate for the 30-meter-wide Right of Way on the proposed Tizit–Khelma stretch without proper consultation with all apex tribal hohos and the NFHRCC in an “appropriate and conducive manner.”
The resolutions were released by the NFHRCC on 15 August.
