Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (top) and Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio

Kohima, April 27: A telecom breakdown greeted Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio when he visited Tuensang last week to campaign for the ruling coalition’s Lok Sabha candidate.

Unable to contact anybody in the state capital, 280 km away, Rio was most annoyed. Recalling the episode, a government official in Tuensang said in a humorous vein: “If you shout aloud out here, the telephone lines may just snap.”

Congress candidate for the seat Asungba Sangtam had a similar experience while touring Mon district, on the border with Myanmar. Telephones did not function for two days when he was there.

If the fickleness of the telecom network in the district does not irritate a visitor, the state of roads surely will. A 44-km journey from Mon town to the border village of Longwa takes three hours to complete when the weather is good.

On a rainy day, completing the journey is an achievement in itself.

The condition of the road is bad in spite of the village having an international trade centre for promotion of Indo-Myanmar commerce.

Chenloishu is nearly 60 km from Mon town and a car ride to the area is just as bumpy. The residents, however, do not have to worry about backaches because walking is the only option for them.

“Cars are only for VIPs. There is no such thing called public transport here. We have to walk (about 15 km) to school,” said Class VIII student Abei.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s promise to improve the education scenario rings hollow, too.

At Chiechama village school, 29 km from the state capital, teachers pool in money from their salaries to keep the show going.

The average price of a primary school textbook there is about Rs 30 and the government school gets a mere Rs 8,826 per month, as against the requirement of over Rs 20,000. The school has 98 students.

Areas like Longleng have yet to enjoy the fruits of the so-called telecom revolution.

Subdivisional police officer W. Walling claims the telephone exchange functioned on the day it was inaugurated — February 23 — but nobody has since been seen at the BSNL office.