Aerial route over heart of Imphal ? DPR ready for submission

Detailed Project Report ready and this is fantastic. Definitely one of the better news in a long, long time, what amid the reports of so and so much of drugs being confiscated and stolen vehicles recovered. While the latter two category of stories highlights all the rot that is within the great society of Manipur, the former tells the story of efforts being made to take the place to the next stage of development. About 10 kms long, and the DPR that one is talking about refers to the planned elevated highway, stretching all the way from Koirengei to Nityaipat Chuthek just near Raj Bhavan or near the office headquarters of the State BJP. This is not all for the DPR also covers the road that will diverge from Nityaipat Chuthek towards the Tiddim road and another route to Lilong Bridge over the Imphal-Moreh Highway. And if one goes by sources from within the National Highway Division of the State Public Works Department, the DPR is set to be submitted to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, qualified with the line, ‘Optimistic of getting the nod from the Centre’. So far, so good, but as it seems to be the wont for any projects taken up in the State, one hopes it does not go the way of the BT Flyover, which took years to see the light of day again qualified by the criticism that it has defaced the view of the historic Ima Keithel.  The DPR is yet to be submitted so one can say that the elevated highway project is still at its infancy, but nonetheless it is significant to note that something is being worked upon to dot the capital city of Manipur with some more engineering ‘marvels.’ The elevated highway can and should also go a long way in easing the traffic congestion that one witnesses on a daily basis along the Kanglapat Road and Tiddim road in Imphal not to speak of the heavy traffic along the Imphal-Lilong stretch of the Indo-Myanmar part of the highway. How long it would take for the project to see the light of day is anybody’s guess but it will definitely take time and one hopes it does not go the way of the ongoing work at Civil Secretariat and even the ISBT which today no longer looks like an inter-State bus terminus but a long neglected site left to rot in the rain and sun. One also hopes that the engineers and city planners are competent and sincere enough to take the needed steps so that an elevated highway does not in any way deface the historical look of the capital city, especially since it will stretch from Koirengei to Nityaipat Chuthek. One also hopes the aerial route does not deface the historic Kangla Fort in any manner. To be sure the experts must have worked on that but one cannot be too careful.
Ring Road and now elevated highway and surely the Government seems to be looking at bigger things and this is welcome. Just how they go about doing it remains to be seen but it would not hurt to take the views and counterviews of everyone before work on the project gets off. Central to the idea of constructing a Ring Road and the elevated highway is obviously the plans to tackle the growing traffic congestion on the roads and streets of Imphal. To be sure Ring Road and the aerial route will take time, a long time to actually fructify, but this should not mean that the Government can sleep over the current situation. As one good doctor put it in a Facebook post, one should look into the parking of vehicles which have come to pick and drop school going children along the highways, especially along Tiddim Road. There are schools along the said line and what are the steps taken up to streamline the parking of vehicles which have come to pick up the children ? Or when they stop to drop the children ? A video shot of a man non-chalantly parking his car right near the middle of a road while dropping or picking up his child has already gone viral on the social media site and one hopes that particular video shot has been brought to the notice of the Chief Minister and others concerned. This is not to say that the person involved should be penalised but as a reminder to the Government that something ought to be done to streamline the parking of vehicles near schools and colleges. Elevated highway sounds wonderful and one just hopes that it just does not remain a fantastical idea.