United club decries NH-53 backlog
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 16 2011:
A sit-in-protest organised by The United Club NH-53 was staged at Sagolband Moirang Hanuba community hall near Government Polytechnic today in denunciation of alleged incompetency of the State Government to develop National Highway-53 .
Club president Thongam Shyama Nganba speaking to some newspersons expressed strong resentment that inspite of the Prime Minister on June 4 assuring to complete the Imphal-Jiribam section of the Highway within 2013 there is no sign of the achieving the target as construction work is still in the preliminary stage.
Opining that at such a lackadaisical pace of road construction work inspite of the Prime Minister's assurance to double-lane the route and hand over the Highway in complete form is unrealistic, he also stated that assurance is a mockery to the people.
The Border Roads Organisation also came under severe criticism from the individual, who expressed that in over 40 years the BRO was assigned to develop/maintain the Highway stretch the condition has also gone from bad to worst.
With regard to the Union Home Secretary GK Pillai announcing last year that Rs 300 crore has been sanctioned for NH-53 development, Shyama Khaba opined that development of the 222 kilometre long Imphal-Jiribam portion of the Highway with the said amount is more than enough for construction of a world class road.
He also highlighted that as per Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' notification issued on March 5, 2010 the Imphal-Jiribam route has been renamed NH-37 which the general public might not be aware of.
Pointing out that both vehicle operators and passengers face severe inconveniences while travelling on the route as it has several narrow and sharp turns, the Club functionary suggested that the Government advise agency concerned to minimise such sharp turns as far as possible.
He also appealed to the Government to deploy more manpower for expeditious completion of the road development work.
The protestors also displayed placards/posters declaring the BRO as an inefficient work force, urged the Prime Minister to intervene immediately and instruct BRO authorities to resume work in an efficient manner, set up spacious parking site at Jiribam, to pass legislation on Inner Line Permit System, officially declare route of the Trans Asian Highway project, upgrade the Jiribam-Tupul railline to broad gauge, etc.