Studying the offer from architects : Injecting soul to Imphal
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: Ocotber 06, 2014 -

High on character and intent of purpose. It is not merely another course of free service.

A point that should be read into the offer made by the Manipur Architects’ Forum to design the facade of houses, free of cost, that were torn down by the road expansion exercise along Tiddim road or to be more precise from the airport to Keishampat junction.

Inherent in the offer made by the architects is the message that the character of a city or a town is not defined merely by its roads and high rise buildings.

In many ways aesthetic and practicability characterise the character of a city or a town and today Imphal desperately needs this.

This is not to say that the offer of the Architects’ Forum will answer the need of Imphal to move with the need of the time, but this could at least be a beginning.

And this is the important point. A point which obviously blew over the head of the Government when it decided to get cracking down on all the structures on either side of the road from the airport to Keishampat junction.

The road widening work by itself is acceptable and some may even have welcomed it, for this stretch of the road had gained a certain degree of infamy for the congestion, especially during rush hour.

Demarcation took place a long, long time back but it was only some months back that the Government got its act together and got down to the business of actually pulling down the structures to pave the way for the road widening exercise.

To be fair to the Government, compensations for the buildings to be pulled down and for the land to be acquired were paid in good time, but this still does not answer the important question of the emotional and sentimental values that one attach to one’s own place of residence.

A house may just be a structure but a home is something entirely different and many of the buildings that were pulled apart were definitely much more than mere structures.

This is not say that development works should be thrown into the dustbin on the ground that it would hurt the sentiments of the people.

However it should remain that the conduct and approach of the Government is extremely important when it comes to something as sensitive as pulling down the houses and residential buildings of its citizens.

It should be seen as something more than an exercise to widen the road that leads to the airport but also as an effort to make Imphal more presentable, especially to the people who come from outside Manipur.

Tough to say whether the Government has understood this point or not, but it is nonetheless heartening to note that the Manipur Architects’ Forum has offered its service to design the façade of the partially demolished houses free of cost.

The offer should be seen as complementing the efforts of the Government to beautify the place. This is where the offer of the architects gains prominence.

It is not only the roads and sky high buildings that go on to define a city, more so the capital city of a State but also how its people live and houses certainly form an important component.

Right time to start giving a soul and character to Imphal and the Government should not let this opportunity go abegging. A city or a town without a soul no longer fits the bill of a capital city.

The Government should realise this.