Slush pass off as Tamei-Kuilong Road
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 01: Thanks to prolonged negligence by the Government villagers of Tamei sub-division in Tamenglong district are reluctant to travel along the 52 kilometre Tamei-Kuilong stretch.

The road stretch is informed to have been constructed (cut) around 1997 under the funding of BMS and since then no further road development work has been initiated till date.

According to the Tamei village chairman, in the last 11 years or so no further road development took place thereby reducing the initial initiative to a nonviable exercise and the villagers afraid to ride through this stretch on grounds of safety.

Negligence for the last many years such an non-laying of shingling has damaged the road so severely that at many spots nearly half of the road width had fallen off due to landslides, in addition to being pockmarked with huge craters/potholes and water flowing across the comparatively narrow route.

The slush and mud that pass off as the road connecting Tamei and Kuilong making it a hazardous route for the villagers

Recounting that the State Government had listed 20 kilometre stretch of the same route from Tamei to Takao for development some years back, the chairman expressed awe that inclusion in the work programme had remained only as paper works without any follow up initiatives.

adding to the travellers' woes include two main rivulets namely Akangiuki and Jaduiki bisecting the Tamei-Kuilong road and rendering travel on vehicles across these rivers almost impossible particularly during Monsoon when the rivers are in full spate.

It is also informed that some years back construction materials were dropped at near the two rivers for construction of suspension bridges which however remains to be implemented/constructed till date.

Apart from a handful of Shaktiman trucks engaged in transportation of timber from Tamei and adjacent areas during the dry seasons there is no passenger service even during such a conducive period, the chairman maintained.

He further iterated even if fortunately travel could be made on vehicles along the Tamei-Kuilong road it takes about nine hours of treacherous travel to cover the 52 km stretch and reach either point and as such villagers of Kuilong I, II and III prefer to walk upto Tamei and take the ride for further journey.

The chairman also highlighted that to reach Kuilong villages commuters normally opt for travel on passenger carriers upto Tamei and cover the remaining destination on foot as they do not want to endanger themselves by travelling on vehicles through the risk-prone road.

Informing that Kuilong Part-III is highly suitable for growth of food crops such as potato, cabbage, chillies (u-morok) and other fruit plants the produce cannot be taken to market places the nearest points being Tamei and Kangpokpi, substantiated chairman of Kuilong Pt-III Thonwangbou.

Substantiating on fertility of Kuilong Pt-III soil, the chairman insisted that in the past many years potatoes could be produced in abundance even during off-season but rotting in large quantity due to market inaccessibility and dilapidated roadways have compelled the farmers to significantly reduce potato plantation.

Even if the produce are in larger quantum the farmers manually carry them for sale at Peren district of Nagaland, Thonwangbou added.

Village chairmen of Kuilong part I and II expressed that due to bad condition of the road the villagers had been enduring several inconveniences in all aspects of life with the matter getting complicated whenever someone requires medical attention.

in such case the sick or ailing individuals are carried on locally made stretchers (bamboo, woods) and taken to health centres at Tamei or Kotlien, they added.