By Imlisanen Jamir
In Nagaland the earth does not forgive mistakes. The mountains rise hard and steep. In the rains, the soil turns to mud and slides down in sheets. Roads crack. Culverts sink. Trucks stall. Men push with their bare hands. This is the ground on which the Frontier Nagaland Territorial Authority now stands.
This week, the State Government, the Union Government, and representatives of Eastern Nagaland signed a tripartite agreement. The Nagaland Legislative Assembly now debates the Frontier Nagaland Territorial Authority Bill. The promise placed before the people is simple in sound. Five thousand crore rupees over ten years. Autonomy with money attached.
Break the number down. Five thousand crore over ten years means five hundred crore a year. That five hundred crore must serve six districts. In the hills where one kilometre of road can swallow crores, five hundred crore is not a windfall. It is a ration.
For scale, look west. The 82 kilometre Dimapur to Kohima railway line cost 6,663 crore. One track. One corridor. That single project costs more than the entire ten year package for the eastern frontier.
The message hides in plain sight. One railway line in the west carries more weight in the Union’s purse than a decade of hope in the east.
The Memorandum of Agreement reads like a grocery list written by a man who does not check prices. A Trans-Eastern Frontier Highway. A domestic airport. A railway extension from Tizit to Kiphire. Several colleges. Each item sounds fair. Each item sounds overdue. Add them up and the paper begins to burn.
Take the highway alone. Recent hill road projects in Nagaland, such as works on NH-29, cost about 16.2 crore per kilometre. Build just 300 kilometres of a new highway at that rate. The bill comes to 4,860 crore. That single line on the page eats almost the entire 5,000 crore package. After that feast, 140 crore remains for ten years.
With 140 crore, the Authority must build an airport, lay railway tracks across mountains, and raise colleges from the ground. Even a small domestic airport costs hundreds of crores. Railways through hills demand tunnels, bridges, land acquisition, and years of work. Colleges need land, buildings, hostels, staff, and grants. The arithmetic does not bend. The money runs out long before the ink dries.
On March 2, Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla opened the Assembly session with praise for “meaningful deliberations” and “high democratic standards.” The words rang well in the chamber. By the afternoon of March 3, the scene had changed. Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio had to reprimand the House because a quarter of the MLAs were absent from their seats. The galleries meant for the Administrative Heads of Departments stood empty.
The contrast needs no comment, yet it demands one. Lofty talk of democratic standards does not sit well with rows of vacant chairs. The very session meant to debate autonomy could not hold the full attention of those elected to shape it. A man does not skip the birth of his own freedom unless he suspects the child is made of paper.
While elected members stay away, the paperwork will not. Forty six subjects move to a new Mini-Secretariat. Health. Education. Agriculture. Rural development. Each subject needs officers, clerks, peons, drivers, and advisers. Each office needs rent, furniture, files, and vehicles. The current Nagaland budget shows that about 68 percent of revenue goes to salaries and pensions.
If the Frontier Authority follows the same path, a large share of its five hundred crore yearly grant will pay wages before it lays a single stone. Thousands of clerks will never miss their place on the payroll. Files will move. Stamps will fall. The roads will still wait.
Supporters say that this is a start. They say the centre will release more funds later. They ask for patience. But budgets tell the truth that speeches avoid. Five hundred crore a year cannot build highways, railways, airports, colleges, and also run a full set of departments. The numbers refuse to bend.
Call the package by its right name. It is a political settlement priced to calm anger at the lowest possible cost. It gives a new structure, a new office, and a new signboard. It does not give the purse required to change the hills.
Comments can be sent to imlisanenjamir@gmail.com
