Vishü Rita Krocha
Kohima | February 3
The coming together of 25 youths from Razeba area under Phek district has spelled hope for better connectivity for citizens of the four villages under Razeba range namely Zhavame, Zelome, Razeba and Tsupfüme.
In what they describe as ‘My Road, My Future’, this group of young people are looking at crowd funding to repair the deplorable 10-kilometre stretch of road from Pfütsero to Zhavame village, that serves as the only lifeline for a population of about 8000 people in the area.
“You cannot even drive through 10 metres steadily in this stretch and despite the huge potential that Razeba area has, for its agricultural produce, the current condition of the road is in such a state that once the monsoon starts, it will gravely impact the farmers in transporting their vegetables,” says Rekha Rose Dukru, who conceptualized the idea to make a community effort to repair the road.
Razeba shares its border with Manipur state from Zhavame village. Placed at the foothill of Kapamodzü peak, the land is very fertile and is especially known for its produce of cabbage and potatoes. The state government had declared Zhavame as ‘Vegetable Village’ and Tsupfume village as ‘Ground Apple Village’ respectively.
Rekha Rose Dukru goes on to say that there is no visible work plan from the government to repair the road, which is why the community has to find a way to maintain the road themselves.
The initiative was also born with inspiration drawn from her late father Sanyi Dukru, who was always keen on the development of the area. Early this year, she was even more motivated to carry out the community project in memory of her father who passed away on December 22, 2020. Accordingly, she started mobilizing like-minded young people from the area.
While noting the high labor cost involved in projects like these, she is hopeful that this will successfully take off with people already coming forward to help.
“We just started our poster campaign today and so far, the response has been good,” she shares while reiterating that it will be a collective community effort of the four villages wherein, they can contribute in the form of cash in any amount, service, prayer and support.
Dukru firmly believes that the repairing of this road will be a huge blessing to the people of Razeba range. “It will help the farmers to transport the agricultural produce during the rainy season and also enable the elderly, the sick, expectant mothers or children to travel comfortably for the next few months,” she shares.
“The area would invite tourists to visit the picturesque area of Razeba which is left hidden to the world until today. The arrival of tourists to the area has the potential to generate employment to the unemployed youths of the area and increase business activities,” she further highlights. The project is expected to take about a month at least with a budget of 5 lakh for basic repairing of the road.
