Only pedestrian zones rule :: Unplanned planning
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 14, 2012 -

Police vehicle parked comfortably inside the pedestrian zone while congestion increases

Definitely tough times call for tough decisions and the decision to declare Thangal bazar, Paona bazar and BT Road 'Pedestrian Only' zones certainly qualifies as a tough decision to tackle a tough, chaotic situation. To appreciate the recent decision a brief recap may be in line.

A couple of decades back, the one way traffic norm was imposed for the first time in Manipur, in these areas.

This was followed by some parking norms such as earmarking certain spots as parking lots for passenger vehicles, restricting the parking of vehicles in some parts of the commercial centres, motor owners being directed to park their vehicles on the road sides along Kanglapat and Nagamapal etc.

The market at Nagamapal was shifted to Lamphel obviously to ease the flow of traffic and for the road widening exercise, which again is for the same purpose.

All these measures were ostensibly taken up to address the problems caused by the growing traffic volume but obviously none of these measures have succeeded and the logical question that follows is why ?

There can be no one single factor for this and the potent cocktail of public indifference, the half baked ideas cooked up by the infertile minds of the officials concerned, the Apartheidic application of the traffic rules and regulations, the ineptness of the men and women on the ground to implement the rules, the lack of formal training and the casual approach to the task at hand is clearly visible in the traffic chaos on some of the major roads of Imphal.

Now the tough decision to bar the entry of motor vehicles in the said three commercial centres have come about without addressing any of the points mentioned above and here is a classic tale of a decision being taken without considering other factors which will definitely have an impact when that decision comes into force.

Obviously the decision to make the three commercial areas 'Only Pedestrian' zones was taken to tackle traffic chaos, but if the experience of the first day is any indication, then it amounts to multiplying the traffic volume on the already crowded areas such as the road along Kanglapat and we are just citing one example here.

Government officials are not trained to think out of the box. But at least they should apply their minds on how to think within the box, but this too has not been happening at all.

Simple logic tells us that all roads in Imphal lead towards Thangal bazar, Paona bazar and BT Road, because the Government has refused to see that what Imphal needs now is some planning on how to disperse the concentration of so many important institutions from these areas.

For starters, why not shift the State Bank of India at MG Avenue and Paona bazar to some other places, say like Mantripukhri ?

Why not issue a standing order that no new shops can come up in these centres ? Why not shift the Thoubal bus parking located to the south of Raj Bhawan somewhere else, says towards Canchipur ?

What sense does it make to locate the Churachandpur bus parking lot near the busy Keishampat junction ? Among others one rider that was issued with the 'Only Pedestrian' zone was the exemption to be granted to policemen on duty. Policemen on duty is the key word here, make no mistake about it.

If the past is any indication, it will be the men in Khaki who will be the first to trash this. Breaking one way norm cannot be 'policemen on duty' nor is parking their vehicle plum in the middle of a busy road, nor is the arrogant mindset that all should give them the right of way.

This is not duty ! The same thing applies to the other security forces, such as the Army, the Assam Rifles, BSF, CRPF etc. Will the 'Only Pedestrian' zone rule apply to them ?

Another rider was that only vehicles which have authentic documents to show that they have parking space would be allowed to enter these areas. This sounds like a pathetic joke, a line picked up from a statute book just so to give the new rules a semblance of legitimacy.

Will the Transport Department please explain what qualifies as a genuine parking lot inside these now restricted areas ?

It is obvious that no proper home work has been done and it goes without saying that traffic rules and regulations cannot be framed without minute analysis of the problems at hand.

A classic case of mastering the art of Unplanned Plans.