Recently, i along with few media colleagues and friends from the People’s United Youth Alliance (PUYA), visited a village called Sahamphung in Kamjong district, which falls under the Ukhrul Assembly constituency.
On paper, the village is only about 190 kilometres from Imphal. But in reality, it took us nearly 12 hours in SUVs to reach this remote village. During the rainy season, the journey becomes even more challenging as roads turn muddy, damaged and, at times, almost impassable.
The irony is impossible to ignore. In the same amount of time, we could have travelled much farther. A flight from Imphal to Delhi nearly 1,700 kilometres away takes only about three hours.
This was not my first journey to the hills. As a journalist, I have travelled extensively across Manipur’s hill districts over the years, reporting on stories from some of the most remote villages. I had witnessed these conditions many times before, but this visit made me realise something I had never thought about so deeply. The gap between the people of the hills and the valley is not shaped only by history, politics or ethnicity. But it is also widened by the lack of such basic infrastructure.
The problem is not distance but accessibility.
For many people living in the remote hills of Manipur, reaching the valley is not something that can be done on a whim. It requires time, money, favourable weather and a great deal of patience. There are few transport options with very high fare, poor road connectivity and, in many places, roads that seem forgotten by the so called “democratic governmnet”.
The news of people carrying patients on makeshift bamboo stretchers for miles is not uncommon in the hill districts of the state. In many of the remote hill villages people often have no option but to carry patients on their shoulders to the nearest motorable road or health facility. Even at the district hospitals, access to advanced medical facilities is limited. As a result, patients requiring specialised or critical care are often referred to hospitals in Imphal, adding another long and difficult journey at a time when every minute can matter.
Perhaps this is one of the least discussed reasons behind the growing disconnect between the hills and the valley.
We often speak about ethnic divides, political disagreements and historical grievances. These conversations are important. But we rarely ask a more fundamental question: how can people truly understand one another when they barely have the opportunity to meet?
The absence of connectivity creates more than physical isolation. It creates social and emotional distance. Over time, different realities shape different worldviews. People living in the hills and those in the valley begin to experience Manipur in entirely different ways. Their priorities, aspirations and perceptions naturally evolve differently, not because they choose to, but because the circumstances around them are so different.
At times, travelling through these remote areas, it feels as governance has yet to arrive. The issue is not only law and order. It is the absence of reliable roads, healthcare, quality education, communication networks and so on. Development cannot remain concentrated in one part of the state while expecting the rest to feel equally connected.
If we genuinely want lasting peace in Manipur, we must begin by narrowing the development gap. Peace cannot be built only through negotiations or security measures. It must also be built through roads that connect villages, schools that create opportunities, hospitals that serve everyone and development that reaches every corner of the state.
Instead of constantly blaming one another for every crisis, perhaps it is time we focus on the one thing that benefits everyone: building an equally developed Manipur.
After all, Manipur is a small state with an area of just 22,327 sq km. The tragedy is not that the hills and the valley are far apart. The tragedy is that they have been allowed to become worlds apart.
(The author is a journalist based in Imphal and a research scholar at Manipur University. Views are personal. He can be reached at rwahengbam62@gmail.com)
