Flip of the coin to decide our fate ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 02, 2010 -

Is it a toss up between NH-39 and NH-53, or should the flip of the coin decide the fate of the citizens of the land ? Ideally, such a question should not have arisen in the first place, because there is no business for a land locked State like Manipur to rely only on one National Highway, which in this case is NH-39, to feed and look after her 25 lakhs odd population.

It is a tragic commentary on the part of the policy framers of the State that after Manipur merged with India on October 15, 1949, no worthwhile attempt has been made to connect the place with the rest of the country through as many routes as possible.

Just as there is something called a contingency plan, every time something is taken up, Manipur too needs alter- native lifelines to fall back on. The sluggish conditions on NH-53 that we are witnessing today is the fruit of years of lack of political far sightedness. It is unfortunate that the attention of the transporters and the State Government and maybe the cursory interest shown by Delhi to develop NH-53, should come under the backdrop of an ugly stand off on the ethnic divide spawned by the Lim demand.

It is at this time that we need to raise one simple but definitely very significant question. Has the need to develop NH-53 to the standard as befits a National Highway come about because of the many disturbances along NH-39, particularly the crippling economic blockade, which has become more and more regular now or not ?

Can Chief Minister O Ibobi, Works Minister K Ranjit and the transporters and others concerned, say with a clear conscience that NH-53 should be developed, regardless of the condition prevailing on NH-39 ?

If this is the case, then the people would not be facing an issue of such a huge dimension, which means much more than cutting off the lifeline of the people but also hammering home the nail of ethnic animosity into the coffin of Manipur.

The truth of the matter, in our mind, is the State Government, the transporters and other stake holders have suddenly woken up to the need to develop NH-53 so that the rest of the people will not be at the mercy of some people who wield control over NH-39, by virtue of their being settled close to the highway.

In another word it means, the reason for developing NH-53 is grounded firmly on some negative developments on NH-39 and this is what we find extremely disgusting as well as disturbing.

Okay, the task of maintaining and manning NH-53 was handed over to the Border Roads Organisation sometime in the 1960s. At least that is what we have been told to take as the truth by the State Government and the State PWD. Rightly or wrongly, Chief Minister O Ibobi has already made his annoyance and dissatisfaction clear against the performance of the BRO on NH-53.

The interesting point is, how and when did this realisation dawn on him and the other political leaders ? The BRO may be under the Centre so also the National Highways. But this does not mean that the State Government should have remained smug and comfortable with only one lifeline all these years.

The proposal of the Central team which recently visited Manipur to the Transporters' and Drivers' Council to take the NH-39 route along with deployment of more para-military forces, has been turned down by the transporters.

We can understand their angst and frustration for being at the receiving end of some Highway Hoodlums all these years and this becomes more interesting when we view the stand of the TDC vis-a-vis the stand of the United Naga Council (UNC).

On one hand, we have the TDC refusing the proposal to take NH-39 along with deployment of more para-military forces and on the other hand, we have Naga organisations like the UNC and the All Naga Students' Association, Manipur serving an ultimatum to the Centre to fulfil certain points, one being the 'demilitarisation' of Naga inhabited areas.

To cap of this contradiction is the announcement of yet another economic blockade for 20 days from 6 am of August 4 courtesy the UNC. This contrasting stand is also an apt reflection of the political disconnect or deeply entrenched ethnic divide between the Meiteis and the Nagas.

In fact, the politics being played out on the field of NH-39 and NH-53 gives a clear description of the deep divide as well as distrust between the two entities divided by the Lim issue.

We have commented more than once that the responsibility of making sure that the politics of ethnic divide does not affect the highways, especially NH-39, should be largely borne by the people who have settled along this route.

Sadly this truth has not yet sunk in into the consciousness of all the players concerned. In a land locked State like Manipur, the very survival and existence of its people depend on road connectivity and there are reasons galore in the observation that developing NH-53 would mean a sudden and new found opportunities for the people living along this route.

The opposite will happen, if transporters do stick and succeed in their stand never to take NH-39 again.

These are all the inevitable fall outs of the politics being played on the National Highways and in the long run the debate over whether one should take NH-39 or NH-53, will benefit no one except make Manipur all the more poorer, not in the materialistic interpretation but more along the idea of a Manipur as a social entity.

As for us, NH-53 should have been developed a long, long time back but this should not be a venture on the rebound, not to spite NH-39, but to have as many lifelines as possible and extend the facilities which a National Highway can offer to the people.