Recently, a social media meme surfaces where an actor, dressed up with Extravehicular Mobility Unit/space suit, acted like he was walking on the surface of the moon. It was staged, I believe, on one of Indian roads. Later, the sarcasm was realized when a commercial vehicle was seen passing by them.
The terms like ‘town planning’ etc. has no significance in our state. This is not because it has no contextual value, but may be, because we are ignorant of the subject. In the residential area of Greater Imphal, people built their houses elevating the ground floor up to eight to ten feet from their old/previous ground level. This happens especially with residences that resides in touch with the inter village roads or highways. The reason is simple, because every child knows that the roads of Imphal rises four to five inches for every parliamentary election. I have lived for more than four decades, and I have witnessed the rising of the roads in Greater Imphal substantially.
These phenomena are unique to our state and we never knew whether it is a case to applaud, or to slam. On the other hand, anyone who read, or who can make a moderate analysis of western civilization, one finds the situation of our state a resenting one. I believe, they maintain the level referring to the sea level, and if necessity arises, the modification of the roads and its levels are marginal. Rejuvenation of the urban or rural infrastructures is based on the scientific data and its related calculations. The problem here is the ignorance, or some ulterior motives, of certain responsible people, is haunting the masses in several ways.
Since I come from different background, recently I have acquired the knowledge that tarmac roads must be leveled strictly for endurance, or else deposited rainwater will sicked the tar. I wonder, I could be the first one in the state who have acquired this knowledge, other wise we could have seen a different scenario as far as our tarmac roads are concern.
The question is, who is responsible for such atrocities on Indian roads? If one starts an allegation, one always ends up in a vicious circle, or one ends up in an infinite pursuit of the traces of the traces. It is not the corruptions, or other systematic failures that concern us. Rather it is the seemingly half-baked knowledge of the people responsible in the field. If it is a case of pure intention of the experts to create such artificial atrocities, then they must be immediately tried and indicted. But, on the other hand, if it is a case of ignorance, then they might need further education on the field. Again, if this is a case of intentionally overlooking the matter, then we need to learn to live with it.
When that is the case, when roads are left unchecked, people chose to avoid such roads. And, when that happen, the traffic got clogged somewhere else. These disturbances in the natural process of the traffic, also resulted in unwanted fatal road hazards. The people who are responsible, must understand the organic relations of the constituents of the society. For instance, the limitations of movement in Nagamapal road, the immobility and the wastage of time in passing a hundred-meter span, deflect the public vehicles to the narrow residential alleys. All roads are for public purpose, but an unplanned town somehow hinders the development in other domains. Parents never sent out their child for evening walk because most of the residential alleys are filled with heavy vehicles.
Now, as a follow up to the above predicament, the planners (ghost), and most of the musers, emphatically concludes that the roads of Greater Imphal needs expansion. This is a case of foolishness and stupidity at its height. There are pavements in Europe, in the countries who own more advanced and sophisticated vehicles with greater dimensions than those we find here in India, which never needed expansion or elevations. Most of the roads walked by Newton, Napolean, and other luminaries, etc. are still retained with their ancient glory. It is not the case that they attached historical values on all available roads, but the normal planning happens in such a way that things remain undisturbed, except for minor renovations and rejuvenations. After a century, I believe, the entire Greater Imphal will be converted into one of the broadest Asian Highway with zero residential area, with more than one hundred lanes to accommodate all the vehicles of the time. And, these days, the inhabitants of Greater Imphal are busy demarcating the ever-shrinking land/property. It all began with the demarcation of our father’s land. Distribution of property, and the share of that property one gets, is all that matters. But what if one of the siblings crave for one more inch larger than the others? But still, the most appropriate question is, ‘who is answerable to the above question if ‘road expansion eviction’ is on the way?’.
I am not an expert on the field, but the terms like ‘planning’, ‘management’, etc. are shrinking, or rather incarnated, or becomes relevant, into something so futuristic, like planning a wedding ceremony in order to fulfill the phrases like ‘show-off’. And since we are very good at it, maybe we might all end up being wedding planners. But unfortunately, a google image of the Greater Imphal is just another picture of chaos and infidelity.
The writer is Assistant Professor, Imphal College
