Of potholed roads and others : Roads to cemetery
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 30, 2024 -

Cemetery youningladi Lamphelgi Tangkhul Baptist Church Manakki Sorokta Gari Thoudou on the way to Shija Hospitals (If you want to reach the Cemetery take the road by the side of Tangkhul Baptist Church at Lamphel towards Shija Hospital, is the rough translation in English) should perhaps sum up the sense of exasperation felt by the common people over the pathetic state of roads all over Imphal.

This line, which was put up on Facebook some time back, was somewhat of a star attraction, drawing comments from numerous others, and the common theme running through all these comments was the acute disappointment with the Government and one wonders whether this has been taken note of by the authority concerned or not.

Even as this punchy status on Facebook did the round, prompting response from many, came the news of locals of Thangmeiband Sinam Leikai, Neikalong Kabui Khul, Guigailong, students and teachers of St Savio English School and staff of Hillside Hospital holding a public meeting wherein it was resolved that if the Government does not repair the stretch of road leading to St Savio English School within a week, the locals will start repairing the road themselves.

‘Repair road else we will do it ourselves’ is not just a proclamation but comes with a deep sense of disappointment with the failure of the Government to ensure something as fundamental as smooth communication.

Take a look around.

Even the busy Kanglapat Road is dotted with huge potholes, especially just behind Imphal Hotel.

Go further north and the eastern side of the double lane road at Koirengei, just in front of the personal residence of the Chief Minister, looks like a death trap and any driver not familiar with the potholes and the broken roads will run the risk of meeting with a serious road mishap.

Go to any of the leiraks and there just does not seem to be any road stretch where one can have a smooth ride.

Take a ride on the Nagamapal road near Khoyathong and one will be left wondering why this is still called a road in the first place.

Or how about the road stretch at the place known as Andro Parking ?

Thanks to the wet spell, it is all leikhom leinang at the moment and wait for the dry season and one can expect uphul waiphul to become the defining hallmark of all roads and lanes in Imphal and beyond.

And making things all more slushy and muddy is a Government which has not at all demonstrated that it is concerned about the reality in which people have to live, work and eke out a living.

How long will this go on is then the natural question that follows and the answer is anyone’s guess.

This in brief is about the leikhom leinang dotted roads in Imphal and take a look at the Imphal to Ukhrul road and one is left wondering where all the tall talks of having a double engine Government has gone.

This is not how a place should be managed, certainly not at this age.

And even as people have to cope with the pot holed and breaking apart roads and lanes in Imphal, it is pathetic to see young students along with their teachers staging dharnas and denouncing the unbearable monetary demands served on their schools and institutions.

Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong, and the pertinent question is, what are the steps that have been taken up or are being planned to be taken up to address the issues which have been haunting the people.

Look beyond the schools and it is more than clear that many small time business ventures have also been hit hard, with quite a few of them deciding to throw in the towel.

The script to bleed Manipur dry seems set and the biggest tragedy is to see that the Government seems lost on how to deal with the different issues besieging the people.

Pathetic roads, with some elements who seem hellbent on sucking the people and the place dry with their unreasonable demands, the ongoing ethnic clash and the script is ready to announce the demise of Manipur and her people and the question that should concern Imphal is whether it would like to see the footnote of ‘a Government that presided over the death of Manipur and her people’ or not.

Something has to give. Show that there is a Government in place and this has nothing to do with the sirens blaring away on the road and expecting the people to give them the right of way when any of the Ministers want to proceed from one place to the other.