After conducting spot inquiry and talking with various government officials and agencies, the Zomi Student Federation (ZSF) on Friday made the contractor of NH 102B (Guite road) resume work which was halted since October 27 by the orders of Churachandpur DFO for allegedly not complying with the rules of Forest department.
ZSF-GHQ said in a release that the federation has taken seriously the order issued by the Environment and Forest department to immediately stop widening of Guite road. When an inquiry was made, it was learned that the order for discontinuance of road construction work was unnecessary.
ZSF has extended its gratitude to the Forest minister, Awangbow Newmai and Tribal affairs and hills minister, Vungzagin Valte for their timely intervention to resume the construction work. It is hard to understand the reason behind stopping of work by the DFO in spite of the fact that the work does not require forest clearance, said ZSF in the release. The blatant action of DFO has exposed her ignorance and disrespect of Tribal Land Rights and chieftainship, it added.
ZSF has further appealed to all sections of the society not to disturb the ongoing widening work of Guite road in the interest of the public.