Of the PM's assurance and others : More than a lifeline - The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 31, 2012 -

A vehicle makes its way through the slush on the highway :: Pix - TSE

There are reasons why promises are made by public figures in full view of the public.

It could be to assert one's stand on an issue of public interest or it could be to buy some short term gains or it could be made with the firm belief that it is tenable.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh may have been guided by the first and last possibilities when he assured a public meeting in December last year that construction/repairing work of the 222 Kms long Imphal-Jiribam highway would be finalised by 2013.

It is just as well because to the people of Manipur, the Imphal-Jiribam route is not just another lifeline. It is the answer to the series of insults and indignities heaped on the people whenever someone decides to cut off the Imphal-Dimapur line or National Highway 2 and the instances have just been too many.

There is nothing dignified about spending the night over at the petrol pump and to be hounded by the cops, nothing positive about worrying when the school buses will cease operating, nothing glorifying about paying Rs 1500 to Rs 2000 for a filled LPG cylinder from the black market and the pinch hurts much deeper than the pocket when one has to shell out Rs 100 or so for a kilogram of onion.

It is this sentiment that the Government and the Border Roads Organisation should appreciate whenever they take a look at the work progress over the Imphal-Jiribam line.

It may not be a conspiracy, but yet how does one explain the tardy pace of work over this crucial route, which, as pointed out, is much more than just a lifeline to the people ?

As things stand today a combination of factors seem to have got together to trash the 2013 assurance given by the Prime Minister himself.

The topography of the land, over which the highway passes through, has often been cited as a stumbling block, but when the same excuse stretches on for years then it can no longer be taken as valid.

One may fool some people for some time but not all the people all the time.

If topography is such a hurdle that the route remains more or less the same without any visible improvement for years, what made the Prime Minister believe that the work would be finalised by 2013 ?

Obviously the promise would have been based on the inputs given by the BRO and this leads us to the question of what the BRO has been doing all this while ?

A case of Government officials trashing the assurances of their political leaders.

Far from progressing, everything suggest that this route has reverted to its earlier deplorable state and herein lies exposed the great divide between officialdom and their political leaders.

Unfortunate that in this disconnect, it is the common people who stand to suffer the most.