Don't forget NH 53 when good times come
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: September 20 2011 -

A commercial vehicle makes it way through the slush on NH-37 :: Pix - TSE

The blockades continue, it has entered its 48 days today. Appeals for withdrawal continue to pour in, but the blockade enforcers are unmoved. Manipur might yet set another dubious record for the longest period an economic blockade was imposed.

The SHDDC’s economic blockade is within striking distance of the 52 days economic blockade in the month of June 2005 enforced by ANSAM but still days away from the longest so far, again imposed by ANSAM last year in June.

Issues might have been different but the modus operandi of the three blockades has been the same.

The government response has also followed the same graph - wait and watch for some time, let the temperature soar a little, let the voices become little more shrill and then finally decide to act.

The government would then announce its intent of forcing the highways open and bring in supplies at any cost. When such a decision is taken, the government generally opts for the Imphal-Jiri road or the NH -53 and understandably so.

Taking NH-39 would mean exposing the freight convoy to more uncertainty as it has to pass through Nagaland before reaching Assam. And how any government in place in Nagaland at that juncture will respond to any crisis situation would naturally be beyond the control of Government of Manipur.

So, NH-53 it is, now, as it was then. Back in 2005 when ANSAM imposed a 52 day economic blockade, when the state government took such a decision to force open the Imphal-Jiri road, a huge convoy of freight trucks escorted by quite a sizable state force drove down the NH-53, after the security forces launched an operation to clear the area of armed cadres of various groups operating in the state.

Back then also and immediately after last year's blockade, there was a lot of talk about improving the condition of NH-53, the transporters even deciding to ply only on this highway and doing their bid to repair it.

There is a sudden realization of how important this road is to Manipur all around. But come a time of peace and relative quite on the NH front, all is forgotten.

The BRO has been looking after the maintenance of NH -53 for the last three decades but the situation instead of improving seems to have gone from bad to worse.

Following the hue and cry raised by the public, the state cabinet did reach a decision to take over the work of maintaining NH - 53 in the month of May this year and hand it over to the Public Works Department but the Government of India and the Ministry of Road Transport did not endorse the idea.

Though how good a job the state PWD would do in maintaining this highway is again a matter of speculation, one advantage of such a move is that the the people of the state can put direct pressure on the government to perform which is not the case with BRO since they are not directly accountable to the people of Manipur or to the government of Manipur.

The NH -53, going by the accounts of a team of media persons which went on an inspection tour a few days back, is in the most pathetic state and would need much more rigorous effort to make it look anything like a national highway.

The 2013 dateline for its completion set by BRO, as of now, sounds like wishful thinking. But government of Manipur should keep the pressure on the Center, to the ministry concerned for early completion of repair work of NH-53.

It should not take its eyes off this highway even when there is no economic blockade. Don't run to it, or rather, drive on it only when you are in trouble.