Gauhati High Court Kohima Bench took serious note of the deplorable road condition of the National Highway-2 and directed the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, National Highway Authority of India, NHIDCL and Nagaland government to immediately take appropriate and concerted action so that the highway is made travel worthy and people’s suffering and woes are relieved to some extent.
After hearing a suo moto public interest litigation (PIL), two-judge bench comprising justices Songkhupchung Serto and Devashis Baruah in an order dated March 2 stated that “unless it is immediately repaired, before the coming monsoon, the only highway that connects 5 to 6 million people of the State of Manipur and Nagaland and the so called National Highway/Trans Asia highway will have to be closed due to its deplorable condition.”
Taking note of the road condition, they said one would wonder whether this (NH-2) is a real National Highway which is also supposed to be Trans Asia highway connecting India with other South Asian countries as envisaged in the Look East Policy, which was now renamed as Act East Policy.
“This highway is meant to play important role when it comes to connectivity and, trade and commerce not only for this part of the country but for the whole country. But nothing much has happened on this highway except the ongoing 4 lane construction between Dimapur and Kohima and repairing of the existing 2 lanes on Manipur side though 15 to 20 years has passed by since the policy was announced,” the court said.
In fact, they said the road between Kohima to Mao i.e Manipur border town, has gone from bad to worse therefore, commuters have to literally negotiate between potholes which are big and deep making it very difficult to travel.
They also said that for the past six years, the highway had not been maintained and nothing much was done to make it even travel worthy.
“It looks like as if, there is nobody responsible for it. It cannot be worse than this,” they stated.
“We wish that at least some attention is given to other National Highways like the National Highway No.2 also because that will make a difference in the life of people in the North East India. A number of Trans Asia motor rallies have been held along this National Highway, and we must not forget that this is the first highway people of South Asian countries will see as they enter India from the East,” the court said.
It also pointed out that prices of commodities were much higher in Manipur and Nagaland as compared to Guwahati since transporters charged exorbitant transportation charges “and one of the reasons for doing so was because of the poor condition of this Highway”.
“The importance this highway holds in the day-to-day life of 5 to 6 million people seems to have escaped the view or attention of people who are in charge is the general feeling of the people who travels on it,” the court said.
Considering all the above, the court said that they were compelled to take suo moto notice of the same. It said: “We are now in the month of March and monsoon is knocking at the door and as such, unless the highway is repaired immediately the people of these two States in particular, and people who have to travel through this road due to call of duty like, the security forces etc would be facing a lot of inconveniences.”
While hearing the matter, the court said the Manoj Kumar Mishra general manager of NHIDCL, PMU Jakhama in-charge of this portion of the highway submitted that there was a project for upgrading this road and work order has been issued to the Contractor M/S Fortune Groups. However, because of the problems the Contractor faced due to non-availability of the Right of Way (ROW), the work could not proceed.
It said that if the state government on their part take the initiative and help the NHIDCL in settling the land issues, the work can start immediately.
Meanwhile, the court has listed the matter for March 16 next and issued notices to Secretary MoRTH, managing director, NHIDCL; chief secretary Nagaland, commissioner Nagaland; commissioner & secretary (W&H), DC Kohima, SDO (Cl) Jakhama and GM NHIDCL, PMU Jakhama and Contractor M/S Fortune Groups.
Friday, September 12, 2025