Of health, water and power supply Nothing seems to be working
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A case of nothing working as they ought to and just a cursory glance around should tell the story. No wonder some conscientious voluntary organisations have come forward to inspect sectors which are deemed necessary for the development and continued survival of the common man and woman. Electricity, Water, Environment, Health, Education. Five fundamentals that go hand in hand to define the existence of human beings in a civilised world but come to Manipur and things could be something totally different. It is with a reason why a voluntary organisation like the People’s United Youth Alliance (PUYA) has come forward to go on an inspection drive of the health centres set up in different districts and their findings which have made it to the pages of the Imphal based newspapers have nothing to cheer about. Doctors and health workers absent, with some of them found to have appended their signature on the ‘present’ column even on a non-existent date like February 30 ! Proxy nurses or health workers, meaning another person stepping in for the trained nurse or health worker, and here is a classic case of toying around with the health and well being of the sick and ailing. To the average Tomba, Hongba and Chaoba, the hospital is the last place anyone would want to be and making things worse is the information that some have managed to put in a proxy worker to dispense the work of a trained nurse or health worker. Nothing can get more sickening than this and so far Manipur has not heard of any such errant employee being pulled up and penalised. It is the same in many schools too, particularly schools located in the hill districts. Proxy teachers to make up for the absence of the regular teacher who otherwise draws a competitive salary, are not tales that have been plucked out from the pages of a fairy tale book but a living reality. And here too, no one has heard of anyone being pulled up and penalised for hiring a proxy teacher to step in for him or her. Manipur also has the dubious distinction of student organisations coming to the fore demanding that topics which are relevant to the present reality and society ought to be introduced in the school syllabus, the steps being taken up by the Manipuri Students’ Federation to demand that a chapter on drug use and its negative impact on the young minds be included in the school syllabus, being a case in point. Same is the case with the drive launched by the Democratic Students’ Alliance, Manipur (DESAM) to make education a free zone. Just some examples that come to mind in the face of the campaign taken up by some voluntary organisations, but take a look around and everything that can severely inconvenience the daily existence of the people is a reality. How many localities in Imphal (forget about the remote villages and the hills) receive adequate water supply ? How frequently is water supplied through the pipelines ? And for how many hours is water actually supplied on the day it is scheduled to come ? How about power supply ? Why is power supply so pathetic and what is the use of the complaint number if no one is going to pick up the phone ? Nothing is working and yet there are those class of people who come in the garb of ‘elected leaders’ who can go on trumping one achievement after the other.
This is how Manipur has been surviving year after year and the funny part is, no one complains. It is the same set of people, the same political party, who continue to boss around when they come out on the roads of Imphal. It is the same officialdom before whom the people more than willingly bow their heads and do their bidding with a big nod. A near perfect script to groom a haughty leadership-the leaders who get the title for being elected members and the other suited, booted class, who get to don the title ‘Sir’ after making their way through the promotion line ! Which of the two is more responsible for the all round rot is a different matter, but it stands that it is the elected class who get to have the final say and as representatives of the people come higher up in the order of precedence. This is one facet, but it stands that the elected ones have to return to the people every five years to seek ‘their blessings’ and this is where the need to call out to the people to vote responsibly becomes all that more important. Surviving Manipur, this is the line that comes to mind, for nothing seems to be working at all. A cruel joke it is that it is in the face of such a situation that the Government is talking about making Imphal a SMART city. Take a walk down any major market and the piled up garbage should tell another story.
This is how Manipur has been surviving year after year and the funny part is, no one complains. It is the same set of people, the same political party, who continue to boss around when they come out on the roads of Imphal. It is the same officialdom before whom the people more than willingly bow their heads and do their bidding with a big nod. A near perfect script to groom a haughty leadership-the leaders who get the title for being elected members and the other suited, booted class, who get to don the title ‘Sir’ after making their way through the promotion line ! Which of the two is more responsible for the all round rot is a different matter, but it stands that it is the elected class who get to have the final say and as representatives of the people come higher up in the order of precedence. This is one facet, but it stands that the elected ones have to return to the people every five years to seek ‘their blessings’ and this is where the need to call out to the people to vote responsibly becomes all that more important. Surviving Manipur, this is the line that comes to mind, for nothing seems to be working at all. A cruel joke it is that it is in the face of such a situation that the Government is talking about making Imphal a SMART city. Take a walk down any major market and the piled up garbage should tell another story.