Imphal, April 01: If ground reality regarding present status of roads along the Imphal-Jiribam stretch of National Highway 53 is any indication assurances for completion of the second lifeline of Manipur is unlikely to meet the deadline.

Inspite of frequent inspection by many of the State's higher-ups including no less than the Governor Dr SS sidhu pace of repairing/development works is far from convincing and the problem is compounded by existence of poorly maintained bailey bridges dotting this route.

Frequent disturbances on the NH-39 had evoked strong demand from the general public on necessity to make NH-53 pliable to all kinds of vehicles especially goods carriers with the State authorities even assuring double-laning of the Imphal-Jiribam route before onset of rainy season within March to be precise.

Contrary to the number of assurances a media team that travelled on this road stretch between March 25 and 27 on their way and back from Jiribam sub-division found the highway an unenviable option for travel.

Out of the total length of 224 kilometres only the Imphal to Noney section of the highway could pass off as conducive to vehicular traffic while upward from Noney till about Nungba travellers are certain to be covered by layers of dust cloud due to absence of black topping.

similar conditions prevails from Nungba till Barak and one could easily comprehend that the problems would increase manifold once rainy season commence as the dust turning into mud slush subsequently making the roads slippery is imminent.

The worst condition, however, exists from Barak till about two kilometres from Jiribam sub-division which is about 57/58 kms and onset of wet season could only testify willingness of heavy vehicle operators to ply on this particular stretch.

While BRTF men and machineries are visible upto Golarthon near Jiribam progress of work is highly debatable as earth work is yet to be completed thereby reducing assurances for double-laning and black topping a mock exercise.

adding to the apprehension and reluctance of travellers and vehicle operators to ply from barak till Golarthon is numerous bailey bridges that emanates creaky sounds and wobbles terribly even leading to travellers preferring to cross the bridges on foot.

About 17 bridges exist on this section alone with most constructed during the World War-II.

As no successive govt cared to repair these antique structures loose bolts/screws and dismantled metal plates are the common features at the present juncture.

Even though vehicle operators have to take the road due to duty compulsion most cross these bridges by rearranging the displaced metal plates or inserting wooden planks to negotiate wider gaps in metal plates due to wear and tear from prolong negligence.

On March 26 itself, a day before the media team returned to Imphal a water tanker got stuck in one the many holes in the metal plates of Makru bridge thereby halting traffic for the entire day.

The stuck vehicle could be pulled out only the next day.

To ensure that no undesired incidents occur security personnel makes sure that all passengers descend from the vehicle before crossing these bridges and weights of goods carriers are still limited to 10 tonnes.

While informations provided by local sources indicate busy work schedules whenever VIPs are supposed to make inspection tours along the NH-53 the intervening period as was witnessed during the recent media team's travel suggest that BRTF is not equipped with sufficient manpower and requisite machinery to deal with the situation.

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