Price rise, farce on NH-37 : Reflection of total failure
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 07 2011 -

Chief Minister O Ibobi has reportedly written to the Union Home Ministry and the Union Defence Ministry to probe the report submitted by the Border Roads Organisation in connection with the number of labourers hired by it for maintenance and repair works of NH-37.

The BRO in its report to the State Government is supposed to have put the number of hired hands on its payroll at 1300 and obviously this failed to cut ice with the State Government as the work done on the National Highway tells an entirely different story.

Moreover the number of workers actually seen working on the road does not correspond to the figure submitted by the BRO, as per the contention of the Chief Minister. So far, so fine.

The Chief Minister is within his rights to approach the Centre if he is convinced that the BRO or for that any matter any Central agency is trying to hoodwink the Government and by extension the people but the matter of bigger import is whether this will remain as ‘written to the Centre’ or will result in some positive development at the ground level.

The Sangai Express has been rather vocal in coming down on the manner in which the State Government has sleepwalked its way on NH-37 since 2005 and there are reasons for this.

In the face of the twin economic blockades on the National Highways, courtesy the Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee and the United Naga Council, compounded by the presence of a totally inept Government, the only viable option to keep the people from starving and to keep the hospitals running and functioning is the Imphal-Jiribam route.

This is something which was felt badly in 2005 and then again 2010. In between there have been many instances when supply of goods and essential commodities was snapped following the imposition of one blockade or the other on the National Highways.

In 2010, there were grand talks of converting Tongjei Maril or Old Cachar Road into NH-53 A and the State witnessed the grand trips undertaken by some of the political bigwigs along this route.

This happened around the time that the 62 days economic blockade imposed by the United Naga Council was in force. This was even included in the election manifesto of the Congress in the 2007 Assembly election.

That the Tongjei Maril option was given a quiet burial is now history thus underlining another example of how the people were fooled by a pack of lies and more lies.

National Highway 37 and the joke of the promise of converting Tongjei Maril to NH-53 A merit a mention here today for the heartaches that the people have had to face for lack of medical oxygen in the hospitals, the pang of sorrow and pain that the family members of the driver who died after being inhumanly assaulted on NH-2, the race to lay hands on some life saving drugs, the humiliation that the people have to undergo in spending long hours in the hot sun just to get 4/5 litres of petrol, the frantic hunt of a filled LPG cylinder or the need to dig deep into one's pocket to buy some essential commodities are all reflections of a Government which just refused to work for the interest of the people.

Now that goods have started trickling in, the arrogance of the Government has started resurfacing. It is this mindset that needs to be deflated and fast.

A few days back, the Consumer Affairs Food and Public Distribution Department conducted a mobile sale of some items to the public of Imphal.

The money sanctioned for the grand idea of the mobile sale was Rs 93 lakhs and only the people who come higher up in the ladder of precedence of the Government seem to know how much of the Rs 93 lakhs has been spent in bringing the goods from outside the State.

The only concrete information that has come out is that the first assignment consisted of three truckloads of nine ton each! This must have worked out to around Rs 1.3/1.4 lakh at a liberal calculation.

That more will come has been indicated but for reasons best known to the Government no official announcement has been made.

Price rise, lack of essential commodities etc may appear transient but it tells of a bigger picture where the Government has failed to address any of the burning issues confronting the State and her people.