KOHIMA: While a solution to the long-pending Naga issue tops the agenda of political parties in Nagaland, for young voters in Asia's biggest village, Kohima, with a population of more than 21,000 and inhabited by Angami Nagas, unemployment is the biggest factor, along with demand for improvement of roads, drains, piped water and all the basic infrastructure.
Kohima Smart City project has been launched but the plight of the residents remains the same.
Frequent power cuts irritate the families here, as the local residents are experiencing a power outage of four hours on an average. In the dry season, several families struggle for even a bucket of water from the pipes laid down by village council decades ago - connecting natural streams with some households. While the elderly have become acquainted with such adversities in the last several decades, the young will vote keeping in mind the improvement of civic infrastructure in this historic village attached to the capital
Marlyn Rutsa, a young advocate in the Kohima bench of Gauhati High Court, got scolded for coming to school in dirty shoes. A disciplined child, but everyday her shoes got dirty while walking through the dusty roads that often got muddy during the rainy season. Several years after she returned to her village after getting a law degree in Guwahati, Marlyn rued nothing much has changed so far as infrastructure is concerned. "Vast stretches of the roads here are in bad shape and lack proper black topping at several places. Without proper drainage and footpaths, students have to walk along the main road, risking their lives. The way my shoes got dirty, even today the students are facing similar embarrassment. It's just an example," said Marlyn.