Since I.S.B.T. (Inter State Bus Terminal) was built and stationed in Purana Bazar, Sir, I fear no Deputy Commissioners posted in Dimapur have ever graced their presence to even glance or peer around to know the mechanism deployed to service. I presume they felt no subjection nor any accountability in their job's prospect but I deem that they were bound by directive principle to know the functioning aspects of all major bodies under their province, on their fingertips.
It is unconventional, Sir, to invite a District Head to look into the conditions of certain public stations through "public column" in local newspaper, but Sir, previous channels which were considered customary had futile outcome. In addition, I've expected law enforcers to right this infringing nuisance act of insubordination, but none are even intrigued. And henceforth, this unorthodox.
Sir, through this reputed column, I am inclined to inform the abusive natures the highway to I.S.B.T. has been enduring under the unmindful Authority and as a result, it has become one of the worse impediment to the passengers commuting to bus station, and even worse for the people living in these areas who have to commute everyday through this discarded highway, full of upheavals.
Sir, allow me to take you in this sojourn of bumpy corrugated ride, bit-by-bit.
To begin, unlike I.S.B.T.s in other plain states, there is no definite forked road that leads to the station from the highway.
After you are eventually directed by helpful standbys, you come across potholes that are filled with blackish stagnant of human waste, channeled down from the petrol station that lies along the highway. The petrol station-master has taken the priviledge to consider I.S.B.T highway for dumping ground of human's urine and fecal matters. Since the pump's public toilet is particularly and conveniently located where drivers of various public lorries assemble to procure business, also, since it is essentially located along NH29 for all people to utilise these units, station highway is always stagnant throughout the year with human wastes.
Then you shall come across a reinforced concrete drinage pipe of abnormal size - half buried under and half above the road. The outcome is ever presence of puddle ponds during rainy seasons. Whoever laid this pipe had the presence of mind to cover it with sand gravel, the upper half portion of the pipe that was visible to commuters' naked eyes, hoping commuters are insane to notice his shoddy job.
And then, you will come across series of building-sand dealers streaching along the highway winding for I.S.B.T. This is absolutely absurd and I don't know whoever issued permits to these sand-dealers, enabling them to set up shops at the most inppropriate location, despite of ill assured consequences they could foresee. I cannot postulate if the actions of these dealers are the consequences of anarchy or if they are fearless rogues who heed no jurisdiction. I am haplessly biased to assume that no actions of penalty have been imposed since these acts haven't come across our Administration' sight. I prefer not to theorise the culpability is not the other way around.
Sir, the presence of this sand dealers stocking sand along the road have been a total menace to the locals and passengers alike. Dissimilar to sand stockists along NH29, there is no drainage system that seperates the sand stocks from the highway; and no settled open area between the highway and sand stocks. The stocks have literally covered one-third area of the highway. The aftereffect of this is, the metalled highway now lies few feet under the sand. It is a foregone truth that when you stock mountains of sands along the road without dividers, any natural effects of wind or rain coupled with gravity will bring down sands to lower altitudes. This is the aftermath here Sir.
I.S.B.T Highway has become loading ground for these uncompliant sand-dealers. It is no longer abnormal to see heavy trucks parked in the middle of the road, horizontally while labourers load sands onto lorries.
I wonder if people ponder whether there are government officials safeguarding public properties whenever they drive through this section since they witness how public road is rampantly abused by these wayward sand-dealers. These unprovisional acts simply depict and spell anarchy.
During heavy monsoons, the road becomes relatively impassable for city cars as they tend to get stuck in this muddy road. I have encountered such an incident twice. Please allow me to relate a satirical but a morbid irony of one such incident. Once on a monsoon morning, my car's front wheel couldn't get a traction on knee deep muddy highway and so I had to back my car and rev it to the maximum inorder to reach the other end. Once I had crossed the hurdle, I stepped down from my car and barked at those dealers how they had turned a perfectly metalled road into a disaster and told them to rectify it.
Few hours later, I found them dumping freshly dug earthly soil from dumper trucks and leveling it with backhoe. They didn't realise that they were only compounding the issue. Poor salesmen wallas! They know that they don't have a defining solution and all they can do is pour more oil into burning flames to assuage the irks of commuters.
Now, inorder to know how deep the original road lies, you have to dig at least two feet below. Sir, I will not be able to let you know the severity of it through mental drawings unless you would kindly take the initiative to practically drive by once during dry day and another on incessant monsoon day.
Sir, I believe, after your insightful inspection, that you'd comply if I plea to you to kindly shut down these sand-dealers and accomodate them along NH29 where all the sand-dealers are functioning within the border of the law.
And Sir, the once performing drainage system is at absolute loss. The drainage system that was implemented is now completely underground, covered in dunes of sand, responsible by defaulters. So I pray to you to kindly direct the responsible departments to avail much needed amenity.
This is not an article to manifest the ignorance of past HODs of Dimapur district departments, Sir, but it is a humble imploration from a citizen, on behalf of the general population, to right what has been ignored or unknown by your predecessors, which I may term as genuine oversight.
"It's an emphatic truth that when an investigative person wants to substantiate if the government officials of any particular towns or cities are ardently overseeing public properties, often, his primary and foremost expedition is to inspect major public service stations such as bus stations, public hospitals, public schools and ensure that public roads are not encroached, inorder to get the gist."
I am truly remorseful, in advance, Sir, that my lines weight more towards discord, not remedied by former officials. Also, I would like to thank you, beforehand for being conscientious Head, obliging to the cries of the public in your province for legitimate reforms.
Viketo Nihokhe Sumi
Purana Bazar
Dimapur