New Delhi, February 06 2010: Manipur Works Minister K Ranjit drew the attention of the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath to the deplorable condition of the National Highway39 which was the main lifeline of the land locked State of Manipur.

Attending at the Meeting of the Ministers of Public Works of all States/Union territories on issues relating to National Highways at Parliament House Annexe here on Friday, the Minister stated that out of three National HighwaysNH-39, NH-150 and NH-53 in Manipur, only NH-39 was fully operational and all the essential commodities were being brought from the mainland to the State capital through the Highway.

He informed the meeting that till date five Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) out of 22 numbers submitted to the Ministry for NH-39 had been sanctioned.

Procurement of civil contracts for the sanctioned works was under process.

He urged the Union Minister for taking care of MaramImphal section of the NH-39 .

The Works Minister also stated that the Imphal-Moreh section of NH-39 which was vital to the development of Indo-Myanmar Border Trade had the deplorable condition from Pallel to Moreh.

He urged the Union Minister for sanction of the remaining DPRs at the earliest for improvement of the NH-39 .

The Minister informed that improvement works for almost the entire length of NH-150, which was sanctioned last year, was under progress.

He said that Manipur had short working season and the State Government had been requesting the Ministry to convey all sanctions by the second quarter of each year so that procurement of the works could be completed by October and the works started within the working season.

He also mentioned that if the work was not started, it would be delayed by one year which invariably increased the cost and the condition of the roads would be further deteriorated.

He asked the Ministry to keep it always in their mind.

K Ranjit expressed that two old bridges at Lokchao and Pallel built before the World War II along the NH-39 needed re-construction in view of increasing traffic volumes.

Similarly two bridges along NH-150 also needed re-construction, he added.

The Minister also drew the attention of Union Minister for constructing an urban bypass as there was extreme traffic congestions of the National Highway in the urban section of Imphal.

The Minister said that the portion of NH-53 between Barak and Jiribam under the Border Road Organization was not fully double laned.

Stating that the NH-53 being the second lifeline of Manipur, the Minister emphasized to expedite the double lanning of the left out portion.

Similarly, the portion from KM 140 to KM 400 of NH-150 was still single lane.

He drew the attention of the Ministry to take up necessary actions for upgrading the road to double lane.

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