Topsy turvy world of NH-37 : Wrong man from Delhi
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 09, 2012 -

Things cannot get more confusing than this. The report that Union Minister of State for Defence, Palam Raju, is scheduled to arrive here on April 10 to take stock of the work progress taken up by the Border Roads Organisation on National Highway-37 has added more twists and turns to the 'passing the buck' drama that has besieged this stretch, which is also known as the second lifeline of the State and the people of land locked Manipur, for far too long.

As far as we know, the BRO primarily consists of the General Reserve Engineer Force, which is under the Ministry of Surface Transport and officers from the Indian Army Corps of Engineers, who are sent to the BRO on deputation.

The confusion is whether it is a man from the Defence Ministry who should be reviewing the work progress or a man from the Ministry of Surface Transport who should be doing this.

The latest development has come in the wake of the strong petition lodged by the NH-37 Truck Owners' Association with Delhi as well as the stern caution sounded by the All Manipur Road Transport Drivers' and Motor Workers' Union that if the tardy pace of work (read black topping) is not rectified before the onset of Monsoon, then this stretch would return to its earlier unmo-torable condition.

The proposed visit of the Union MoS for Defence has also come in the backdrop of the strong criticism launched by the State Government against the BRO as well as independent surveys made by private parties in the last few months.

Given the pull and push of the political and social pressure, bordering on the ethnic and communal divide, the need for Manipur to have as many connecting routes as possible with the outside world has never been felt so strongly as now and the proposed visit of the Union MoS for Defence to oversee or review the work progress of the BRO on the Imphal-Jiribam stretch seems nothing less than a spill-over effect of the chalta hai attitude demonstrated by Delhi whenever the people of Manipur have had to reel under long spells of economic or highway blockade, the latest being the record setting 121 days of economic blockade last year.

It is nothing but an attempt to pull wool over the eyes of the people of Manipur and the farce that has been staged has gone on for far too long.

Make no mistake about it. The very composition of the BRO should be clear to all. It consists of engineers and other officials from the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF), which is under the Union Ministry of Surface Transport and officers from the Indian Army Corps of Engineers, who are sent to the BRO on deputation or on loan.

The key words to note here are on deputation or on loan and the scepticism should become clear. For decades, NH-37, hitherto known as NH-53, has been anything but a road, forget about being a National Highway.

That the politics of hate and divide has translated into economic blockades or highway blockades is something which has become palpable with each blockade imposed on the highways and with successive Governments failing to read that the blockade politics and hate/divide politics feed on each other, the need to make NH-37 motorable and an all weather road cannot be over emphasised.

Hence the question of why Delhi should even entertain the idea of sending someone from the Ministry of Defence to over see the work progress on NH-37 ?

Or is this an extension of the militaristic approach of Delhi to any situation in the North East, particularly Manipur ?

A Union Minister coming to oversee issues of importance in Manipur is fine, but when this is reduced to an exercise of befooling the public, then it is time to say No.

Where are the top honchos of the National Highways Authority of India, which is the nodal agency of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways ?

For far too long, the BRO has been lording over the pathetic conditions of NH-37 and if at all Delhi is sincere about setting things right and neutralising the blockade politics, then it should depute the man who is best equipped to look into the matter.

We do not need surrogacy here.