Growing traffic menace : Ring road, flyover promise
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 25 2018 -

No time frame given but the announcement of Chief Minister N Biren Singh that a ring road and two flyovers would be constructed soon could not have come at a more opportune moment.

A look around will tell how crowded Imphal city has become at any point of the day.

So congested have the roads become that today it is not possible to say what time of the day comes under peak hour, for all the roads are choc-a-bloc with vehicular movement round the clock.

With bank loans available easily, the number of vehicles on the road of Imphal has multiplied down the years, with no corresponding increase on the width of the roads, on the number of flyovers and anything to ease traffic flow.

It is not the number of vehicles alone but also the mindset of everyone behind the wheels that has made driving through the roads of Imphal a nightmare, literally and figuratively speaking.

Come dusk and in the mad rush to get back home or in the case of some who have to work in the night, many conveniently forget that high beaming on the road is dangerous, not only for the others but for themselves too.

A drive in the dark of Imphal city will drive home this point.

Many ‘conveniently forget’ to put the headlights of their vehicle on the ‘down’ mode literally blinding the others coming from the opposite direction.

Again, it is not uncommon to see young people zooming in and out of the line of vehicles which have taken a lane jeopardising not only themselves but the others as well.

Top this off with some who care two hoots about blowing their horn in the middle of the crowded road, as if the vehicle in front has any space left to give them the way so that they can go forward.

A little bit of patience. A little bit of understanding that like them, all are caught in the traffic snarl and hence makes no sense to try and overtake the vehicle in front blindly.

This is what is missing in the people. A mindset which refuses to look beyond one’s nose and the failure to acknowledge that the others too have the same right to use the road.

This mindset and the increasing number of vehicles on the roads of Imphal have led to the nightmare that Imphal city has become for any motorist today.

The Government may work out means to ease the flow of traffic, the promise to build two more flyovers and a ring road from the Chief Minister being a prime example, but as long as the mindset of the people refuse to change, there may not be much improvement.

Apart from the traffic snarls and the nightmare of driving through the roads of Imphal today, the increasing number of vehicles also mean creating health hazards which may come from the smoke emitted from the vehicles, the dust kicked up by the vehicles as well as noise pollution.

This is where the question of public transportation becomes crucial.

If public transportation improves, then surely it can lead to many not taking their vehicles out and this will surely have a positive impact on the traffic snarls that one sees everyday.

The traffic snarls can be imagined once the wedding season kicks in and that season is not far off.

Motorists in Imphal will surely see more road nightmare in the days to come.

Remember Ningol Chakkouba is not far off and one can just picturise the scenario.