Ukhrul: A mere 50-meter stretch of road has become a bottleneck, causing significant disruption to vehicular movement between Jessami and Kharasom village, Ukhrul District, Manipur. About 9 Km from Jessami towards Kharasom, the condition of the road has paralyzed the traffic movement amid closure of Tadubi road.
The dire situation has been exacerbated by a small Eicher truck stranded in the middle of the bad road stretch, rendering it impassable for other vehicles. This unexpected obstacle has resulted in a traffic standstill for hours, leaving commuters stranded and exacerbating the effects of just two days rainfall.
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Speaking to this correspondent, Shangcham Shangjam informed that “Since 9 am this morning, a growing queue of vehicles has been trapped on the highway, unable to navigate past the blocked section. The stranded vehicles, ranging from small cars to larger trucks, have been immobilized for over four hours, more and more vehicles adding up since all the vehicle towards Ukhrul and Imphal are playing on this road since there is bandh in Imphal and the Tadubi road is even worst due to the ongoing road expansion work and the rain”.
The incident underscores the vulnerability of transportation infrastructure to even the smallest disruptions, such as this two days of rain and in areas prone to adverse weather conditions.
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The Imphal-Ukhrul-Jessami (NH-150) and Ukhrul to Tadubi (NH-102A) is maintain and manage by NHIDCL. The National Highway 150 from Ukhrul to Jessami, about 110 kms had been forsaken in terms of roadside clearance and maintenance. The road has been left unattended for many year now. It is pertinent that the security of the people along the National Highway -150 cannot be put at risk. Various road accident has occurred due to the ill maintenance of the road leading to multiple losses of preious lives.
Tangkhul Naga Wungnao Long (TNWL) on November 11, 2021 has written to The General Manager (Project), PMU-Ukhrul, NHIDCL for clearing of the jungle on the roadside of from Ukhrul-Jessami (NH-150) and Ukhrul to Tadubi (NH-102A) “Owing to non-clearance of roadside bushes in the ongoing highways lane expansion in the aforesaid stated two lifelines, it has become a matter of grave concerned for the general public and health emergency people to freely traveled the road as they have been frequently experiencing road accident due to reduced in the sights of distance of the drivers.” President of TNWL, SA. Ramnganing informed this correspondent that no positive response has come forward from the side of NHIDCL inspite of their request.
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SA Ramnganing stated that “Good quality and timely execution of the road has become a far cry for citizen of Ukhrul District. The National Highway 150 from Ukhrul to Jessami, about 110 kms had been forsaken in terms of roadside clearance and maintenance. Non-clearance of the roadside bushes and drainage has also resulted to occurrence of landslide at various places along the highway, which is the lifeline of the people of Ukhrul District.”
Populace of Ukhrul has started questioning the slow progress of work of National Highway 202 – Imphal to Ukhrul road, a distance of 82km. National Highway 202 will links Mokokchung to Imphal and runs for a distance of 460 km.
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