Moreh and its place in LEP : Looking eastward
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 22, 2012 -

Moreh - Indo-Myanmar Border Town on National Highway in January 2012 :: Pix - Jinendra Maibam

The recent assurance by Chief Minister O Ibobi to upgrade Moreh to an ultra modern town is perfectly in line with the Look East Policy adopted by the Government of India in 1991 during the time of the Narasimha Rao Government and which has been actively pursued by successive Governments under Atal Behari Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh.

It is not a co-incidence that the paradigm shift in India's perspective of the world, via looking eastward, came along with the opening of the economy during the tenure of Narasimha Rao, the seeds of which some were sown during the Rajiv Gandhi regime.

The changing shift in geo-politics across the world, the emergence of China as a major player, not only militarily but also economically and its growing influence on its Asian neighbours, were some of the imperatives for Delhi to adopt the Look East Policy and pursue it with an intent of purpose.

The exclusive, Association of South East Asian Nations, is another major factor for India to go in for a strategic shift and start looking towards her eastern neighbours for economic and political reasons.

As the gateway to the eastern neighbours of India, Delhi cannot afford to overlook the geo-strategic importance of Moreh in the Look East Policy and the assurance of the Chief Minister that it would be upgraded to an ultra modern town should be seen beyond the context of the present border trade where only 40 items are included.

However the gross turnover of the border trade is something which cannot be written off that easily given the State's poor resources, with trade analysts pegging it at Rs 90 to 100 Crore per month.

This is a healthy sign, no doubt, but it remains to be seen how far the State Government can go ahead to meet the political and economic agenda that Delhi has woven into the Look East Policy. A present look at the border town does not inspire much confidence and this is something which the State Government should acknowledge.

As things stand today, Moreh presents a contrasting look to Namphalong, the trading centre on the side of Myanmar.

The Chief Minister has talked about land acquisition to expand the town and it may be safe to surmise that this land acquisition talk centres around putting up the requisite infrastructure.

This is fine and goes along with the idea of developing a place, but there are still several bottlenecks that need to be cleared first. Any venture in trade and commerce centres around connectivity.

This is where the importance of the Imphal-Moreh section of NH-2 needs to be taken into serious consideration. There have been talks about making the provisions of Letter of Credit available at the border town of Moreh to boost the border trade but so far not much progress has been witnessed on this front.

The Chief Minister's assurance also gains importance in the face of the fact that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is scheduled to visit Myanmar in the last month of May and while the Look East Policy will extend beyond the border trade as it is understood now, the importance of Moreh on the larger canvass of the said policy cannot be overlooked at any cost.

The assurance of the Chief Minister is fine, but it is anyone's guess whether the State Government will be up to the task of developing this town to the level that its importance in the overall scheme of LEP demands.

Has any idea been given on working out a master plan for the border town or is it going to be a story of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing ?

We raise these questions in the backdrop of the manner in which numerous developmental projects taken up in Imphal have been reduced to a farce.