Sluggish road work in state
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: March 26, 2025 -

THERE must be a reason for the local population resorting to road block agitations or other forms of protest in different parts of the state over protracted negligence and non-re-pairing of vital link roads.

Though such agitations tend to cause inconveniences to all, including the agitating section of the population, inordinate delays in completing road projects by the implementing agencies and failure by the government authorities to promptly translate into action assurances given to the agitating parties are some prime factors for the state often experiencing road blocks in one part or another.

In the latest case, assurance given to representatives of local bodies resulted in Meira Paibi groups and clubs Of Patsoi Part-1 lifting the blockade enforced on NH-37 since March 21.

In the past too, people of Patsoi area prohibited vehicular movement along the same route after repeated appeals to complete the highway expansion and repair work with strict adherence to prescribed specifications and work quality evoked lacklustre response from the implementing agencies.

Another poorly maintained road stretch having the potential to Infuriate the locals is the Maram-Purul Atongba road constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) scheme, which according to a joint statement of Purul Youth & Students' Organisation (PYSO) and Koide Youth & Students' Organisation (KYSO), is in a highly deplorable condition owing to lack of initiative for maintenance of the said route in-spite of fund earmarked for the same, and despite repeated complaints and appeals by public for an all-weather road, specifically citing risk posed to the commuters during the rainy season when the road becomes nearly impassable.

With regard to the NH-37, the Ministry of Road transport and Highways (MORTH) had in July 2022 approved expansion of the 15 km-long Imphal-Keithelmanbi road section of the highway that links Imphal with border district Jiribam.

The approval was even hailed as testament to the double-engine government's thrust to accelerate infrastructure development in the northeast region.

During an inspection visit, then works minister Govindas Konthoujam told some newspersons that Prime Minister Narendra Modi heeded to the repeated requests of (former) chief minister N Biren for expansion of the Imphal-Keithelmanbi section of the national highway, and asserted if the state could place proposals for people-friendly and economically viable projects then the centre wouldn't fret from sanctioning the requisite fund.

In fact, as per official records, the pace of road construction in the pre-Modi government era used to be one kilometre a day and generally extended for years, but under the so-called double-engine government the progress rate of rbad development was estimated to have spiked to 37 kilometres a day by the NHIDCL, which is also credited for fully or 90 per cent completion before the deadline of the projects.

Taking into account such tall claims, the MoRTH definitely owes an explanation to the people of Patsoi in particular and Manipur in general, why the 15-km long road cannot be completed months after the project had been sanctioned and handled by the NHIDCL While acknowledging that roads are the arteries of development in the state, not to speak about the mainly mountainous north-eastern states, the central government shall have to Substantiate its claims of completing state and national highway development works ahead of the deadline set for such projects.