Villagers develop 36-km road for first time in history
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, December 16 2014:
The development work of a linking road that stretches 36 kms connecting Henglep and Tuibong in Churachandpur town has started with the contributions from villagers of the area.
The connecting road will highly shorten the time taken to reach Henglep, which otherwise takes more than 9 hours to cover a distance of 115 kms on the NH-150 route.
While addressing the media on a visit to the worksite, Shakholal Haokip who is the Chairman of Socio-Economic Development Organization stated, 'If one needs to go to Henglep from Tuibong via the NEC Road which is damaged beyond measure, he has to spend the whole day for the purpose ' .
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He also affirmed that owing to the need of villagers to overcome the inconvenience faced by them while transporting commodities for sale in the main market in Churachandpur, this initiative has been taken by the villagers themselves.
The work has been completed till Mengken, which is 21 kms from Tuibong and may take another four to five months to complete the project for which an amount of Rs 50 lakhs has been invested so far.
The amount includes the cost of a bulldozer which is being used to carry out the task for which a distance of 15 kms only is yet to be completed, he added.
The President of ICHAM, M Rajendra conceded that this initiative is a world record achievement and has never happened in history.
The failure of the State to provide transportation facility to the villagers must have evoked them to carry out the gigantic task without a single penny being sanctioned by the concerned department, he said.
The road from Tuibong to Henglep which will be called 'SADO Road' will benefit the people of 44 villages with a total population of 10,630 inhabitants according to the census report of 2011.It may be noted that 45 years since Henglep was declared a Subdivision of Churachandpur District in the year 1969, none of the department or minister has taken the responsibility to carry out maintenance work on the existing NH 150 highway.