Truck owners offer to repair Barak Bridge
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, August 28 2015 :
Observing that BRO has till date made no initiative to repair the Barak Bridge, the Manipur Truck Owners Welfare Association (MTOWA) has offered to repair the bridge from their own coffer provided they are given the requisite permission.
Speaking to media persons at their MG Avenue office today, MTOWA president H Ranjit decried that there has been no sign of repairing the bridge till date even though it was said that repairing the bridge would take 12 days.
The BRO has been paying little heed to repeated appeals and reminders to repair and maintain Imphal-Jiribam highway and all its bridges properly.
Asking whether it is unavailability of spare parts or other construction materials or lack of manpower which is hampering BRO from repairing the broken bridge, Ranjit offered all possible assistance from the side of MTOWA.
If either the Government or the BRO provides necessary spare parts, MTOWA is ready to replace all the worn out wooden planks of the old Barak Bridge even if it costs Rs 9/10 lakh.
Again, if the BRO candidly admits its inability to repair the Barak Bridge and the Government gives permission, MTOWA can repair the bridge within two days and it will bear all the expenditures.
At the same time, MTOWA is also prepared to repair the old Barak Bridge so that trucks can cross it, Ranjit said.
It is a tragedy that the Government realized the importance of Imphal-Jiribam highway only when Imphal-Dimapur highway went out of service.
He also appealed to all concerned not to politicize Imphal-Jiribam highway.
BJP's claim that several crores have been sanctioned for repairing Imphal-Jiribam highway is rather detestable.
Hundreds of crores have been invested in the highway since the past many years but the highway has improved very little because of BRO's inefficiency.
Asking whether the State Government has any information about BJP's claim that several crores have been sanctioned for repairing Imphal-Jiribam highway, Ranjit maintained that the State Government take a concrete decision with regard to the Barak Bridge within the next couple of days.