Our Correspondent
Kohima | May 29
The state’s capital today has become so congested that there is barely room to breathe. Rampant encroachment on little available spaces and even roadsides and pavements of the main town areas and colonies, by vested interests is not helping either, to ease the congestion woes of Kohima. Perhaps driven by sheer desperation, encroachers appear to be totally undaunted by the law, sparing not even government lands and refusing to budge even after being warned of consequences.
In a case of ‘Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile’, Kohima District Administration, with the help of police, today demolished a building under construction at Middle Chandmari. It was being constructed by a woman over a garage which was attached to a government officer’s official quarters. The woman, reportedly an LDA under the PWD, was reportedly residing at the government quarter during which she demolished the garage and started constructing a concrete building for residential purposes. According to sources, the woman was warned thrice but she refused to stop even after police sealed off the quarter in which she was putting up residence. The construction continued even in the night hours till the administration had to take the drastic step of demolishing the building today.
JCBs and tipper trucks worked the better part of the day to completely obliterate the construction. The defiance and total contempt of the law shown by the woman has amazed neighbors as well as the administration and police officials. However, today’s case is not rare, as there have been numerous reports of rampant encroachment even over government land throughout the state, particularly in Kohima and Dimapur. In Dimapur, huge tracts of government land have been turned into private estates and “villages” while there is hardly a single government colony that has not seen private multi-storied buildings replacing the modest Assam-type government quarters. In most of these cases, the government is left helpless, resulting in government departmental colonies being transformed into private colonies.
