NFHRCC slams govt over survey order, questions CM
Dimapur, May 30 (MExN): The Nagaland Foothills Road Coordination Committee (NFHRCC) has demanded a public clarification from Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio over the State Government’s recent moves on the Foothills Road Project, calling them a betrayal of the Committee’s decade-long commitment and sacrifices.
The Committee was reacting to an office order issued by the Chief Engineer, PWD (R&B), on May 28, which directed the start of a survey to demarcate a 30-meter Right of Way (RoW) and boundary pillar positions along the Foothills Road alignment from June 2, 2025. The NFHRCC said this directive was issued “without even an intimation to the Committee,” and alleged it was another blow to a body that had once been central to the project.
“Concerned department may try to twist and turn the Historic Foothills Project, but the sacrifices made by the Committee and the Naga public with tears and blood cannot be set aside nor erased by any mechanism,” it stated.
Calling for the Chief Minister’s intervention, the Committee urged Rio to “advise and educate the department about the concept of the Foothills Road Project and to highlight the resilience and relentless efforts made by the Committee since 2013.” The statement pointed out that Rio, as then Chief Minister, had supported the project during its inception, and as former PWD Minister in 1993, had earlier tried to push it forward.
“Chief Minister Dr. Rio fully knows about the Foothills Project — or in other words, we can say that he is the Dictionary of the Foothills Road,” the Committee stated. “While educating the same one should be very careful whether there is any printing mistake in the Dictionary and if so, the same should be corrected at any cost, failing to do so will lead to chaotic state of affairs.”
The Committee said there would be no alignment, realignment, expansion, or contraction of the road “without consultation with NFHRCC,” and demanded that the May 28 order be held in abeyance unless Rio explains why the landowners’ No Objection Certificates (NOCs) were handed over to him in 2018 at his own request.
The NFHRCC also expressed hurt over its exclusion from a consultative meeting convened by the State Government on April 30, 2025, in Kohima. The meeting had listed the Foothills Road as its first agenda and was attended by all 60 legislators, both Members of Parliament, and apex tribal and women organizations — but not the NFHRCC. It said the consultative meet was postponed only due to timely intervention by some civil bodies.
