Newly laid tiles on road medians face removal
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, June 20 2013: Some of the tiles which were laid recently on the road median of NH-2 near Khongnang Ani Karak are likely to be removed to make way for plantation of trees/plants.

Tiles were laid on the road median of NH 2 from Khongnang Ani Karak to North AOC for the first time in Manipur.

Even though laying tiles on road medians is not new in metropolitan cities like Delhi which were developed with proper planning, laying tiles on road medians in cities like Imphal may result in many problems, said a source.

Already there were reports of repeated doings and undoings on road median between Khongnang Ani Karak and North AOC, North AOC and Raj Bhavan, Raj Bhavan and the Chief Minister's bungalow, Chief Minister's bungalow and Moirangkhom, Raj Bhavan and Moirangkhom largely due to lack of communication and coordination among different departments.

Newly laid tiles that face removal

State PWD sent a DPR on improvement of traffic intersection at Khongnang Ani Karak to the Ministry of Surface Transport and Highways about two years back.

The DPR also contained a component about road median beautification near Khongnang Ani Karak.

Even though the DPR was approved by the Ministry of Surface Transport and Highways, it became a tricky situation when it came to laying tiles on road medians.

At the same time, the department did not dare skip any component of the DPR approved by the Ministry.

Finally, the tiles were laid on the excuse that some portions of the tiles can be removed if there must be plantation on the road media, informed the source.

On the other hand, sources informed that openings cannot be made according to rules along road medians from Koirengei to North AOC, Moirangkhomg to Manipur University and Wahengbam Leikai to Tera Keithel.

According to National Highway Rules, road medians can be cut at a distance of at least 2 Kms.

But the same specification cannot be followed in Manipur because of the number of lanes and residential gates located within the span of 2 Kms.

As such, officials of the department have started considering to reduce the distance between two openings on road medians from the standard 2 Kms.