Making the cut for Oxford Dictionary : Defining 'Inaugurated'
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 05, 2012 -

Inaugurated but yet to be functional and the decay starts at Khuman Lampak Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT) :: Pix - TSE

If ever there are vacancies to be filled on the editorial board of the Oxford Reference Dictionary, they do not need to look beyond the political class and the Babudom of Manipur.

Where else would one find the manner in which the term 'inaugurated' has been twisted and manipulated with such dexterity that it has come to spawn a whole new meaning ?

As we understand it, English is a versatile and accommodative language. Just look at the way in which words associated with India, such as the Sari, Turban or Curry have melded into the vocabulary of the Queen's language and in the case of Manipur, some smart politicians and Babus have made it sure that Manipur too contributes to the ever accommodative/inclusive nature of the English language.

On December 3 last year the Inter-State Bus Terminus, the City Convention Centre, the new complex of the Manipur Film Development Corporation and the Capitol Complex were inaugurated by none other than Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi with all the expected hype and hoopla and more than five months down the line the inaugurated structures, such as the ISBT and the City Convention Centre, are anywhere but ready for public use or for whatever purpose they were built.

As things stand today, the main hall of the City Convention Centre is nowhere near completion, with even the job of setting up the tables and chairs in its initial stage. The lighting/wiring work is still in its 'naked stage'.

It is the same story too with the ISBT. Inaugurated more than five months back, the deadline for its completion has already been extended by another six months and for good reasons.

For all practical purposes, the ISBT today is nothing less than a structure that has come up to deface the landscape of Imphal, with oil tankers made to park there sans any basic amenities for the drivers and their helpers, who have to put up there for days pending the time of unloading the fuel at the oil depot.

No proper toilets literally means littering the nooks and corners of the complex with human waste ! This is not all. As reported earlier, the parking bay was found to be too small for the buses and it would be extremely interesting to meet the 'experts' who conceptualised and executed the models that are on display in all its ugliness today.

A place inaugurated more than five months backs and yet given another six months extension for its completion is nothing less than giving a new meaning to the term 'inaugurated' and this should actually qualify the Babus and their political masters to be on the board of the editorial team of the Oxford Reference Dictionary.

On a more serious note, such a mindset is a reflection of how the State has been governed down the years, in short, in the last ten years of the Congress led SPF Government.

The inauguration function was not only an act of taking the people for a ride, but also exposes how easily the Prime Minister's Office and the office of the AICC chief can be manipulated by some paper works.

Or was it a case of the pending election to the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly then ?

That the Congress led SPF Government miserably failed to translate the massive mandate it received in the 9th Assembly election needs no elaboration but this should not mean that the public should not be on their toes to ensure that the farce that was witnessed in the last ten years are repeated.

The insensitivity of the Government stands out loud and clear over the mute silence maintained by the Chief Minister over the 'murder' of Loitam Richard for days. It was only after the people, cutting across regional and political divides, started coming out on the streets that the Chief Minister is reported to have contacted his counter part in Karnataka.

This may be a digression, but the point that we are trying to drive home is that a sensitive Government would not have had the gumption to inaugurate a structure amid such hype and then extend its finishing deadline by another six months.

If this is how a major project of the State is being handled, then we can only imagine how the overall affairs of the State is being run and managed. An inaugurated structured standing soiled and unused is the pits.