As Nagaland gets ready to celebrate the 20th edition of the premier Hornbill Festival by undertaking various preparatory activities, the two distinct paths are perceptible for the incoming tourists. Both will either ease the tourists’ journey to the festival to a great extent or makes it extremely uncomfortable.
The paths are the virtual and actual highways. The State Government initiative for former has been considerable and laudable; however, one hesitates to give such a review for the latter.
The latest initiative towards the first path is the launching of the online Inner Line Permit (ILP) for tourist on November 8 by Nagaland’s chief minister Neiphiu Rio. Though tad late, given the fact most states with ILP system has undertaken such steps, it is a welcome initiative.
Touted as another milestone in the State Government‘s march towards e-Governance, the facility will allow tourists to apply online ILP at their convenient time and ensure a hassle-free journey, at least till the entry point.
An official during the launching also maintained that it would improve the overall quality of monitoring of the implementation of the ILP regime as all the concerned enforcement agencies or the Government will have access to real-time information of the applicants, the number of approvals obtained, the duration of visits, the places of visit etc. The online ILP module is in addition to the manual mode, which will still be in operation.
While the present module is only for the visiting domestic tourists, it was informed that the state’s home department has plans to scale up and reinforce the operation by including all “other categories of ILP applicants and by providing several other online verification features in the days ahead.”
For visiting tourists, while the first obstacle is virtually settled, the second highway taking them to the festival would be trickier and an uphill journey, literally and figuratively.
For those traversing by road or trains, it starts earlier as the ongoing NH-29 from Purana Bazaar to Chümoukedima is a chaotic paradise. The prospect is equally bleak for those flying in, as they have to tackle the same road right outside the airport’s vicinity.
The foundation stone for improving the city portion of Dimapur (NH-29 & NH-129) from Nagaland Gate (Golaghat Road) to Patkai Bridge (Via Tragopan Jn - Zion Hospital Jn- Purana Bazar-Chümoukedima) was dedicated on January 2018. Two years and periodic extensions after, the construction, at best, is going at a snail pace and may linger well into next year.
Once the hill section starts, the road is equally daunting. As per the latest response to a clarification sought by Chakhroma Public Organisation (CPO) on current road condition of NH-29, while the pace of construction slow, giving a new the timeframe for completion is fraught with uncertainty.
For instance, the NHIDCL’s reply revealed that Package-I was scheduled to be completed by September 15, 2019 but only 57.24% (physical progress up to September 2019) has been completed. Ditto for the package –II scheduled to be completed by August 2, 2019. Only 70.70% of the total work was completed. Package-III which falls under Kohima district (i.e. from KM 152.490 to 166.700) is scheduled to be completed by February 7, 2020, but only 55.95% is completed so far. As per the revised work programme proposed by the contractors, the expected time of completion is April 2020, it was informed. This is not the first revision and certianly not the last.
Several factors including nature contribute to the delay and though the State Government is not the agency directly undertaking the work, competent monitoring of the implementation process can increase the work efficiency.
Both the virtual and actual highways need to be simultaneously enhanced for seamless connectivity.
