Nagaland: Down the road where 6 killed in ambush, mines a lifeline for Tiru

Friday, 10 December 2021Newsdesk

Every single week between October and May, for years, Phonei, 29, and Mary, 18, have followed the same routine. To the mine on Monday, back on Saturday, at Church service on Sunday. Often, they go down the same route where six of their colleagues were shot dead by the Army on December 4.

New Delhi, 10 December2021

As per news report of The Indian Express, This is why they find the claim of the shooting being the result of “mistaken identity” hard to believe. Having come up over the past 15 years, mines are a lifeline for Tiru valley, located about 6 km from Oting village, where the six miners killed were from, as are Phonei and Mary. Other mines are spread out over Nokzang, Wakching and Pogong areas of Mon district. A few tea plantations and broom grass and paddy cultivation are the other means of subsistence, but offer very little income. As per figures shared by the government in Parliament in 2019, Nagaland has the highest unemployment rate among the states at 21.4%. “Mines are the only way they can get money,” says an official of the Directorate of Geology and Mining, Nagaland.

Source - The Indian Express