Perhaps it is long over due to raise the questions, just what the heck are our 60 elected representatives doing? Busy warming their Ministerial kursis or hatching some plots to over throw the Government so that they can put their hands on the pie? Or more bluntly, are our elected representative some whimpering, spineless lot who do not have the guts and conviction to take matters by the horn and try to set things right? Or is the Government here just to enjoy the pelf of being in power and avail the opportunity to travel to New Delhi by air at the expense of the tax payers?
We ask these questions because for the last many months there have been no semblance of governance. That the two national highways that connect the State to the outside world have been hijacked by armed men, who espouse a cause or two, need no reminders and it is a matter of great shame that while we raised a hue and cry and crucified the Nagaland Government, following the Piphema outrage, for its failure to provide protection to passengers along the NH-39 stretch in Nagaland, we have not been able to provide even the basic modicum of security and safety to passengers on the stretch of highways that run within the boundary of the State, be it NH-39 or NH-53.
Lootings, extortions and plain assault and indignities meted out to drivers and passengers on the Imphal-Moreh route on NH-39 and on the Imphal-Jiribam line along NH-53 are old hats. And the most galling part is the State Police force and the other law enforcing agencies have failed to crack even a single case till date. It was only as recently as September 23 that three passengers were pulled down from a passenger bus at Nungba on NH-53 and thrashed, kicked and assaulted.
To the outside world, especially to Mr SC Jamir and the Nagaland Government, the State Government and by extension the people of Manipur must have cut a sorry figure. If we cannot even provide protection on the highway that passes through our own State then do we have any moral authority to judge and lambast another State Government? At least the Nagaland Police acted swiftly and managed to arrest some goons responsible for the Piphema outrage.
It is not only the harassments and indignities meted out to passengers that have become a matter of great concern but the factors that indicate a complete breakdown in administration. Gunmen roaming on the highway and imposing their will and diktats on the passengers and vehicles that pass through the highways is more than enough proof that the situation has gone beyond the control of the State Government. In such a scenario we may well ask whether there is any sense in a having a Government that has failed on all front.
With the transporters deciding to suspend service on NH-53 from September 25 and with the UCM boycott of NH-39 still on, it is frightening to think of the situation that will befall the State and the people in a few days time. So many times the State Government has been pressed to provide adequate security along NH-53 but all these years, it has been the same. If we are not mistaken, Chief Minister O Ibobi had assured that security posts along NH-53 would be opened once the 3rd IRB personnel finish training.
But the question now is what about now, the present? Should the people continue to suffer because the Government just does not have the means to provide security? The Center has been apprised time and again of the need to raise a Highway Protection Force and despite the many verbal assurances nothing has been done on this front. On second thoughts what can we expect from a Government that is bending backwards just to capture a forest brigand, by the name of Veerapan, who has been holding the entire country to ransom for years.
To be brutally frank there appears to be no solution in sight for the moment, but this should be no reason for Chief Minister O Ibobi and his Council of Ministers to pretend that everything is hunky dory. Should we just curse ourselves for being born in this land which was once named "Jewel of India" by Pandit Nehru or should we take up some radical measures?
(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)
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