Monalisa Changkija
Recently Nagaland’s Minister for Tourism and Higher Education announced a Rs. 250-crore proposal to develop Dzukou valley into a world class ecotourism destination with an eco-friendly luxury hotel and tourist facilities. This is not welcome news but a spine-chilling one considering Dzukou valley is an ecologically sensitive zone. GT Thong, a retired Geology Professor writes that a project of this magnitude is the sure destruction of an ecological hotspot and a death sentence of this pristine valley. In a write-up titled: “Dzukou and NH-29 destruction projects”, published in a local newspaper on November 7, 2025, Professor Thong explains: “Kohima gets its water supply from southern and western Dzukou. This water is stored in the subsurface of the mountainous terrain, where conditions are conducive. Frequent fires have damaged this ecosystem. However, the mountains surrounding this valley have survived the destruction over the years. It is necessary to ensure that forest fires are stopped totally. The grandiose ecotourism projects planned will just hasten the destruction of Dzukou and will cause the end of our precious water; the valley will dry up for sure.”
Professor Thong maintains that such projects are feasible in places where corruption is non-existent or negligible and levels of efficiency, technology and administration are high but not in Nagaland, which is still very primitive as far as governance and development are concerned. He cites the wanton destruction of the Tsiedukhru Range, which has resulted in death and continuous damage of the National Highway-29. Professor Thong is not anti-development but cautions that care should be taken to avoid or minimally develop ecologically sensitive zones and explains that the Tsiedukhru Range is an extremely weak zone with high relief and weak rocks posing grave danger. Long before the broadening process of NH-29, this fragile zone was affected by rock falls and landslides so he says that broadening this portion of the Highway was the gravest mistake. The Professor further wrote that researchers of Nagaland University had dwelt on the negative impact of road widening in the Tsiedukhru area, which was also known as the Pagla Pahar, in a newspaper article way back in 2011 particularly on the danger posed due to possible bank erosion by the Chathe River. However, these observations were ignored.
Alas, we can clearly see it all happening now but it is too late and we have lost critical environmental and ecological wealth and heritage forever. Spin-doctors of Governments and big corporations project environmental and ecological concerns as anti-development and anti-progress but the fact is it is informed sustainable and equitable development and progress that engender such concerns. What is witnessed today as regards huge ‘development’ projects is the enrichment of nations/states but the impoverishment of large sections of the people. Such projects deepen and widen class divides, which in turn weaken and undermine democracy. Anyhow, why do Governments and big corporations believe that the only way to development and progress is by destroying the environment and displacing communities? Can development and progress not occur without destroying our environment? This certainly indicates insensitivity, bankruptcy of ideas, failure to explore the limits of science and technology, unacceptable quality and levels of policy making, governance deficit and a partiality towards big corporations.
Indigenous communities especially are known to preserve our environment and ecology for centuries ~ in fact, now the world is taking another look at indigenous knowledge systems to pull back Planet Earth from the brink of extinction. However, in small States like Nagaland, clearly we continue to erroneously equate huge ‘development’ and infrastructure projects with development and progress. In Nagaland, land belongs to the communities ~ it has been so for centuries ~ and even the British and later the Indian Government did not change our land-holding system. Unfortunately, it is our own State Governments that seek to insidiously divest land from its constitutionally-protected traditional land owners under the guise of ‘development’ and ‘progress’. Our people are still very vulnerable to suggestions, delusionary dreams and often also to the lure of big bucks. We saw what has happened to over 3000 acres of virgin land in Dima Hosao, one of the most under-developed districts of Assam. Yes, one way or the other, we can still be and do get conned ~ so desperate are we to ‘develop’ and ‘progress’. The tragedy is we don’t know the price we pay now and the price future generations will pay later for our aspirations of development and progress because nobody tells us the cost and by the time we find out, it is much too late.
Nagaland, indeed the entire Northeast is one of the world’s last frontiers of environmental and ecological hotspots. Though over the decades our biodiversity has been depleted, ours is still one of the richest. But seeing that we have a limited geographical area, it is all the more imperative that our environment and ecology are closely guarded and preserved for our existence and survival. In doing so, we also contribute to the world’s environmental safe-keeping. We may have been convinced that modern ways are better than our traditional ways hence we abandoned our old ways but increasingly it is proved that our ways were non-destructive, life preserving and enriching. Therefore, it is imperative that we take a second to consider the pitfalls of alluring development projects that inevitably consume our land, our forests, our rivers and waterfalls, our birds and animals, our air and later on our freedom, our home and our lives. We have seen this happening across the globe so the risk is loss of everything we hold dear and everything that defines us.
Most tourists come to Nagaland and the rest of the Northeast to enjoy Nature far away from the ‘developed’ cities. So, are we going to offer our scenic Nature-endowed State for tourists to take a breath or luxury hotels and facilities aplenty in the cities and the rest of the world? What happens to our uniqueness then? We take pride in being different so why would we want to become like everyone else? Nagaland and the Northeast need to first provide good roads and basic facilities to our citizens and tourists before we ‘propose’ luxury hotels and facilities that would be at the cost of irreparably destroying our environment. At the moment, Dzukou valley may not have the best of tourist facilities or good roads but it provides something money cannot buy ~ a little piece of heaven on earth and a pure connect with Nature. It is really time for human beings to stop believing that we can do one better than God and to stop ruining Nature’s glory ~ after all, ‘development’ and ‘progress’ holds no candle to Nature’s beauty and bounty.
Small villages and communities here are endeavouring to preserve and protect what’s left of our environment and ecology with encouraging results. These endeavours must also be replicated in Dzukou valley for its survival and preservation is intrinsically linked to our own. Therefore the Rs. 250 crores must be allocated to these endeavours ~ not towards the rape of Dzukou valley.
(The Columnist is a Dimapur-based veteran journalist, poet and former Editor of Nagaland Page. Published in the November 21, 2025 issue of Assam Tribune)
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