People in Tousem area in Tamenglong district, Manipur, is facing immense hardship as the construction of their “dream road” has been dampened by the impact of the ethnic conflict in the state and the connecting roadways are made worse by the inclement weather conditions.
Tousem town is located about 20 km west from Tamenglong HQ. Accessing the roads connecting the town is a nightmare even for emergency cases besides transportation of basic amenities.
The heavy downpour with the arrival of monsoon has worsened the already poor condition of the roads from Kaiphundai village to Tousem and Tousem to Tamenglong HQ in Manipur West.
Sources told the Imphal Free Press that the construction of Tamenglong-Tousem-Halflong road, along the National Highway-137, which was projected to be completed by May 2023, was halted owing to the devastating ethnic conflict in the state since May 3.
As several affected people fled to safer places, the non-local labours, who account for the majority of the road construction work force, have left the work sites, fearing untoward outcome of the ethnic clashes.
Following the appeal from the public, the road construction company had earlier cleared the road which remained blocked for some time.
However, with the onset of the rainy season, heavy rainfall continues to wreck havoc in the region, rendering the roads in deplorable condition. The worsening conditions of the roads pose danger and risk to lives and vehicles.
Meanwhile, the Tousem Area Students Organisation (TASO) has called upon the district administration, the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), and road companies to address the issue immediately.
The TASO, in a statement, has urged the authorities concerned to initiate the road repairing work by Monday without fail.
The heavy rainfall has also disrupted phone network connectivity. In view of the difficulties faced by the people in the region, the students’ organization has also warned the Airtel telecom service provider for not solving the network issues in time.
“It has been more than two months. All necessary information has been intimated through the department concerned,” the TASO stated.
If the telecom service problem persists and the problem in Tousem area is not addressed, TASO said it will put up strong action against the telecom service provider.
The leaders of various organisations, the local public, social workers, and authorities are requested to comply and cooperate during this hard time, the TASO said.
It may be mentioned that the villagers in the region have been facing immense hardship due to absence of a good all-weather road for decades.
Hence, speaking exclusively to the Imphal Free Press in September 2021, Armstrong Pame, then district deputy commissioner, termed the Tamenglong-Halflong Road ‘People's Dream Road’.
Related: Tamenglong-Halflong Road on NH-137
Pame, who is also from Tousem sub-division, together with Sushil Kumar Rai, general manager, NHIDCL Project Monitoring Unit, Tamenglong, had inspected the road.
During the road inspection, Rai told the Imphal Free Press that the construction of the Tamenglong-Halflong Road was expected to be completed by the end of May 2023.
"The road from Manipur's Tamenglong district to Assam's Halflong district (Mahur) would be completed on a stipulated time of May 2023."
Pame also said the targeted completion time of the road construction was 18 months and another five years of maintenance.
The stretch of the 97.32 km road is reportedly divided into six packages and each package is given to a construction company.
The construction work of Pakage No 1, 10 km stretch of the road from zero point Tamenglong to Dailong section is being taken up by Road Ridge Private Limited.
Package No 2 i.e. Dailong village to Old Tamenglong Barak River has a length of 21 km and the construction work is being taken up by Jandu Construction Private Limited.
The road construction work of package No 3, from Barak River to Phellong village, having a length of 12.05 km, is being taken up by Kalyan Private Limited.
For package No 4 i.e. from Phellong village to Azuram village having a length of 10.7 km, the construction work is being taken up by Road Ridge Private Limited.
For package No 5 i.e. from Azuram village to Mandeu village Makhru River having a length of 26.45 km and Package no 6 from Mandeu to Jiri River at Mahur which has a length of 16.24 km, the construction work is being taken up by Kalyan Private Limited.
