The hazardous conditions
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: December 06 2011 -

Only the other day, some of the most impressive buildings and complexes - the State Assembly Complex, the City Convention Centre, the High Court Complex, MFDC buildings were inaugurated by the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

The architecture, grandeur and the state of the art facilities within these complexes is unlike anything the state has seen.

There is every likelihood that many inhabitants of this state when suddenly confronted with the sight of these structures would start rubbing their eyes thinking if by some miracle they have been transported to another more developed part of the country.

But there is nothing much to worry, for, this state of mind will last only a few seconds, they only have to turn their gaze away from these grand buildings to come back to their senses.

For everywhere in this city called Imphal, they will once again behold the familiar sight of the grime and dust which has enveloped it. Must be real reassuring to realize that despite the minor aberrations of these mesmerising structures nothing much has changed. And this, in many ways, is the sad part nay tragic part of our society.

People of this state tolerate and accept so many things which few in any part of the globe would - the long drawn out blockades, the lack of electricity, drinking water supply, the abundance of garbages and many other deprivations.

There is hardly any protest from the people against all these lacks which have affected every aspect of their life. And as for the government which is responsible for providing all these, it is preoccupied with more important and hardly seems to have any time for such mundane matters.

Any one coming out on the streets of Imphal will face the suffocating cloud of dust hovering all around. Add to it the fumes emanating from the vehicles of all kinds in the jammed packed roads and you have the perfect recipe for respiratory diseases.

It hardly needs any pointing out that the most affected would be the old and the infirm and young children. Any pediatrician worth his practice will tell you the vulnerability of young children to respiratory disease like asthma in Manipur. This is the price we are paying for development.

The whole city is literally dug up for various ongoing projects. The main culprit being the Imphal city sewerage project which has been going on for quite some years, has been missing its dateline time and again and which even today looks nowhere near completion.

Then there are the road widening projects which are going on the Sagolband road stretch which has made commuting along it extremely difficult. The thick volume of dust emanating from the road reduces visibility to such an extend that driving down this stretch becomes a dangerous proposition.

The dust would not harm the health of the commuters but the possibility of accidents in this stretch is quite high. The condition of the Uripok Kangchup road is no better.

Here also there is fresh digging going on right from the Cheirap Court, and even at stretches which have not been dug up, the the condition of this road is in quite a bad shape, full of pot holes and dust.

The landing of the only flyover which was inaugurated only a couple of years back has now come apart and there are huge gaping holes which again is not only inconvenient to those driving down on it but also puts them to risk of accidents.

There is need to complete all these ongoing projects on a war footing. Letting them drag on will definitely cause irreparable damage to the health of the most vulnerable section of our society.

Development is for the people and if pursuit of development harms the very people it is meant to benefit what use it is.

And of course potholes need to be mended also, this should not cause too much of a doing for a government which has executed mega projects of awe inspiring magnitude.