This is not a campaign along the line of WANTED : Cooking Gas, Not Laughing Gas or the dilapidated, potholed roads that dot the main roads in Imphal, but nevertheless this should serve as a wake up call to the Government and the people.
The lead story carried by The Sangai Express under the heading, ‘Unregulated parking multiplies traffic congestion, VIPsm chokes Sect road’ and the picture story that showed garbage being piled up in front of Imphal West Police headquarters, one day after the cleanliness campaign Swachch Hi Seva came to an end should tell something very important.
Granted, Imphal is hard pressed for space and this explains the reason for the growing traffic congestion, but there are factors which can be addressed, provided the Government has the will and the people develop some basic civic sense.
One obviously is the allotment of parking space by the sides of the road.
As reported in the news item, it absolutely makes no sense to let the VIP vehicles wait or idle away the time in front of the Secretariat while the official who comes under the tag of VIP attends to his/her normal chore in the office.
It would make so much more sense for the vehicle to drop the official, return home and then come and pick up the official after office hour.
Or come to pick up the official on being called to transport him or her on some official work.
Private vehicles which come to the Secretariat should also likewise be told to move away after dropping the visitor.
In case the visitor is behind the wheels, then the vehicle may be parked somewhere and he or she may walk up to the Secretariat.
These are some suggestions that just come to mind and if the Government has better suggestions, then it should get down to the business of coming out with it.
The crux of the matter is, this cannot go on like this forever.
Reducing the Swachch Hi Seva campaign to a joke.
This is what can be inferred from the garbage piled up outside Imphal West Police Station on October 3, just one day after the campaign came to an end.
The filth and dirt that litters the road is a reflection of the dirt and filth in the minds of the citizens.
This is unacceptable and to think that the garbage was found piled up in a high security zone makes it all that more unacceptable.
The BJP led Government here need to do more than just take up a mop and get some pics clicked to convey the message that they are taking part in the campaign.
Pull up those found littering the roadsides and lanes of Imphal and elsewhere. Fix a penalty, say a huge fine.
Let anyone found littering be pulled up and made to pay a heavy fine.
This will go some length in cleansing the dirt and filth from the mindset of the people.
The task ahead is obviously tough, but time for the Government to start work on the proposed ring road that has been around for some years now.
At the same time, the Government also need to seriously study on how to break free from the Imphal centric mindset.
Develop the market places at the periphery of Imphal.
This will go a long way in addressing the problem of traffic congestion in the capital city.
Make it mandatory for any new commercial building that comes up in the heart of Imphal city to have underground parking facilities.
At the same time speed up the construction work of the new Secretariat building at Mantripukhri.
Source: The Sangai Express
