Tale of potholed roads and more Where is governance ?
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Think Imphal and the immediate image that comes to mind are the potholed roads that dot the place all over. This is Imphal and one can imagine how the situation would be like at places which are located a little way off Imphal, a place that doubles up as the capital of Manipur. Go further to the hills and one can visualise how the situation must be like, but potholed roads are the last thing in the minds of the people at the moment and not surprising for the attention of everyone is on the ethnic clash that has raged on since the evening of May 3, 2023 with nothing to indicate that things will take a turn for the better. The two quick floods that hit Imphal in quick succession in the early part of July this year and again in August are factors for the pitiable state of the roads, no doubt and take this along with the failure of the Government to govern, in the true sense of the word and here is a near perfect recipe for huge craters to define all the major roads in Imphal today. Apart from the rain and the flooding of the roads, the street protests that defined the place in 2023 and 2024, wherein protesters did not hesitate in pulling down railings from the road dividers and placing them plum in the middle of the road plus the bonfires lit in the middle of the roads have only gone to make things worse and today it is the common people who have to bear with the potholed roads. Perhaps the only stretch of road that is free from potholes must be the road starting from the office of the PWD till the Airport and go a little westward on the Airport road and one is sure to be greeted by potholes on either side. So bad is the situation that some people have taken to the social media to talk about the possibility of rearing fishes in the potholes seen all over the place ! This is the state of affairs that the people of Imphal have had to bear with all these months and there is nothing much to indicate that efforts are being made to repair the roads and while the Centre is reported to have agreed to the proposal of Imphal to take up 57 projects under the Central Road and Infrastructure Fund (CRIF), this comes with the rider that the State Government must first bear the expenses, with the Centre to refund the amount expended only later. Is the State Government well placed to take up the road repairing works or the other projects ? Tough to say, and remember Imphal must be hard pressed for funds, thanks to the ongoing ethnic clash which is already past the 17th month.
Roads where one cannot drive for twenty metres without having to negotiate a pothole or two and adding to the woes of the people is the growing monetary demands served by different power players. Not uncommon to see people coming out on the roads to lodge their complaints, not uncommon to see entire market remaining shut to protest the growing monetary demands, not uncommon to see donation seekers crowding the road and asking passers by to donate and clearly the people of Manipur are being squeezed from all sides. Leaves one wondering whether there is a Government in place or not and not unnatural to see many holding the Government responsible for the absence of anything that comes close to the understanding of governance. For over 17 months the people have been surviving from day to day and this is something which can be understood only by living through it. No words enough to describe the condition under which the common people have had to live all these months. Prices of all goods, including essentials, have skyrocketed and this is where one would like to question what plans or programmes the Government has to put things on track. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong and while the ongoing ethnic clash can be said to be common to all the problems weighing the people down, doesn’t it say something significant that Manipur today resembles a place where those who throw their weight around, ride rough shod over the sensibilities of everyone, are the ones calling the shot with no one placed in the position to question them ? Who has helped create such a situation ?
Roads where one cannot drive for twenty metres without having to negotiate a pothole or two and adding to the woes of the people is the growing monetary demands served by different power players. Not uncommon to see people coming out on the roads to lodge their complaints, not uncommon to see entire market remaining shut to protest the growing monetary demands, not uncommon to see donation seekers crowding the road and asking passers by to donate and clearly the people of Manipur are being squeezed from all sides. Leaves one wondering whether there is a Government in place or not and not unnatural to see many holding the Government responsible for the absence of anything that comes close to the understanding of governance. For over 17 months the people have been surviving from day to day and this is something which can be understood only by living through it. No words enough to describe the condition under which the common people have had to live all these months. Prices of all goods, including essentials, have skyrocketed and this is where one would like to question what plans or programmes the Government has to put things on track. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong and while the ongoing ethnic clash can be said to be common to all the problems weighing the people down, doesn’t it say something significant that Manipur today resembles a place where those who throw their weight around, ride rough shod over the sensibilities of everyone, are the ones calling the shot with no one placed in the position to question them ? Who has helped create such a situation ?