It takes 4 days to reach Jiribam from Imphal !

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jul 16 : Contrary to the bold announcement made by the Chief Minister not long after he was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Manipur for the first time in 2017 that Imphal-Jiribam highway (NH-37) would be developed as a standard highway fit for landing aeroplanes, the highway’s condition is only growing from bad to worse.
Now it takes four days for empty POL and LPG tankers escorted by CRPF to reach Jiribam from Imphal.
A convoy of POL and LPG TTs which left Keithelmanbi on Saturday with CRPF escorts reached Makru only this afternoon, said one of the drivers moving in the convoy.
Most sections of the 220 Kms long Imphal-Jiribam highway has deteriorated to deplorable levels.
On the average, the empty TTs can travel just around 55 Kms in a day, the driver told The Sangai Express.
In addition to the deplorable condition of the highway, another major factor slowing down vehicles is the narrowness of the highway. The breadth of NH-37 is not sufficient enough for vehicles, particularly heavy trucks coming from opposite directions to pass each other.
Convoys of empty trucks have to slow down to almost stationary position to let loaded trucks coming from the opposite direction pass, said the driver.
A convoy of loaded TTs which left Jiribam for Imphal this morning was able to reach only Keiphundai at 3.45 pm.
It takes at least three days for loaded TTs to reach Imphal from Jiribam.
Even though the State is not facing any scarcity of petrol and diesel at the moment, the acute shortage of LPG being endured by the people of the valley districts and certain areas of some hill districts is unlikely to get over any time soon considering the fact that it takes almost one week for TTs to travel to and fro between Imphal and Jiribam.
LPG distributors of Senapati, Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal and Churachandpur are supplied with packed LPG refills brought from outside the State.
As such, people of these districts are not facing  any shortage of LPG.
Packed refills for the LPG distributors of Senapati and Kangpokpi are brought on NH-2 (Imphal-Dimapur highway).
For LPG distributors of Churachandpur, packed refills are brought through Guite Road. Packed refills reach Tengnoupal through Jessami Road via Ukhrul.
Almost all the LPG distributors of the valley districts and some hill areas have already run into backlogs extending to three months. It is feared that this backlog will only grow in the coming days.
It has been already reported that the price of LPG refills (14.2 Kg) has soared to Rs 2000 to Rs 2500 in black markets.