Imkong Walling
It was almost 3 decades ago when Nagaland got introduced to an iconic urban symbol— traffic lights. The year was 1994, in Dimapur. There were not as many cars as it is today, but could still clog the narrow Nyamo Lotha (NL) Road, especially around the time when students headed to school in the morning and in the afternoon when schools closed.
The day the traffic lights system was inaugurated, this author, a schoolboy then, remembers getting a glimpse of the then Chief Minister, Dr SC Jamir, for the first time, at NL Road. It so happened that the official inauguration occurred around the time when school closed for the day. It was a Saturday and it meant ‘half holiday’ i.e. school ended at 10:00 am.
Dr Jamir, clad in the classic Indian politician garb (kurta-pajamas) was seen escorted into a white Hindustan Ambassador at NL Road, probably after doing the ceremonial ‘switching on’ of the lights. It was purportedly a big achievement for the government of a state, fairly unknown to most people in the country.
Seen occasionally in the movies and sometimes, on Doordarshan; it felt good, getting to see working traffic lights for the first time, in physical form, in a small town far removed from the big metros.
Guess it was the feel-good factor that the commuters fell in line, vehicles, including the famously defiant autorickshaws, showing the courtesy to stop at ‘Red’ and the patience to wait for ‘Green’ to come on.
All good things, however, must come to an end, they say. The display of obedience was short-lived, the roads returning to what it was before. It was not long before the lights stopped blinking. The lifeless lights stood on, weathering the elements like relics of a compliant past.
The years went by and the world stepped into a new millennium. It was the 2000s (if mistaken not), when the once abandoned traffic lights system was reintroduced with renewed vigour. This time, it required human intervention— traffic police stationed at roadside cubicles on the controls.
It went fairly smooth, only to go into disuse yet again. As per the official grapevine, unmet dues translated into cutting of electricity.
Fast-forward to the 2020s, traffic lights have re-emerged, this time, in Kohima. As per a tweet from the Principal Secretary, Urban Development and Municipal Affairs, it is, “Coming soon.”
It is hoped the populace and the government would live up to the name of the Central government scheme under which the Automated Traffic Management System is being sponsored and continue to uphold it, unlike its short-lived predecessors in Dimapur.
The writer is a Principal Correspondent at The Morung Express. Comments can be sent to imkongwalls@gmail.com
