Lamka, November 21: With the interiors of Churachandpur already facing the grim prospect of a famine, the treacherous roads linking the hill top villages are set to add to the misery of the villagers.

The best road stretch the district can boast of for now is the 50 km stretch in Tipaimukh or NH 150 undertaken by BRTF and the Tedim Road stretch between Imphal and Lamka.

The Tipaimukh stretch all by itself would be commendable, but the pace of the work progress is pitiful.

Other than these, road connectivity is pitiable, and in most of the cases hazardous.

The road stretch between Dialkhai and Bukpi touched the nerve of the visiting media team; an inch of sneaky soil was all that separated life and death.

On the first day the team had to engage a JCB to drag them through to Singngat, merely a 20 km stretch from here and the most hospitable sub-divisional headquarters in the district.

The condition of the road was such that five kilometers per hour was all that could be covered in between Singngat and Thanlon via Pherzawl.

Stricken as the interiors are with famine, with the present road condition, it is doubtful if relief material can reach the villagers.

Not surprisingly, officials stuck to their non chalant optimism with the explanation, 'construction work is going on and the road will improve very soon'.

This explanation however has been there for more than a decade now and does not have any buyers now .

It is by now questionable, how the PWD utilised the 1 crore plus funds sanctioned for every kilometre stretch.

Rendering the road un-motorable and shielding the interior populace from the outside world seems to be the reason why the PWD is against handing handing over the work to BRTF.

As asserted by many a villager, to ally with armed groups in times of election is not all that outlines the task of an elected representative.

None of the four/five MLAs from these areas shy themselves away from mentioning the transpiring famine during the election early this year, but none have cared to even ensure that their electorates have the basic form of communication.

Proper road connectivity holds an enormous stake in the survival of the region.

Unless that stake is realized, the hope of many including those from Santing village, who assumingly said they may survive with 'KB rice' � meaning rice acquired from timber, would turn hostile.

Otherwise, the contention of even air-lifting essential commodities for relieving the interior community would not be overstated.

It is a pity that when the rest of the region talks of Vision 2020 or Look East Policy and the nation wrestle for a permanent post in the UN Security Council, the meagre communities here have to always put their life on the line in every bit of their move.

This surely would not be impressive feature a visibly developed democratic country like India wants to conceal within.

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