The recent tragedy of the collapsed bridge which has cost the lives of four persons is unacceptable to the people. The people have for long managed to bear with the inefficiency of the elected leaders in governance and it has reached its zenith. This is not just about the broken bridge and the lives lost, this is about the negligence and poor attendance of the government to oversee all round management, which has always been their responsibility, since the day they assumed their positions; politicians and bureaucrats alike.
This tragedy is not the first and surely won’t be the last, if the same system of ignorance continues…both the government and the public. Time has more than passed for each of us to assume responsibility in building a protective future and to prevent such grievances at the cost of the innocent people.
The LDPN appreciates Vikheho Swu, Minister of PWD (R&B) for accepting full moral responsibility of the tragedy. However it is also questioned whether upon his twice personal inspection with the officials from the department, were there experts, engineers and mathematicians, who could have estimated the final hours of the ill fated bridge, and would have come up with alternative scientific measures to have diverged the losses incurred?
And if the engineers had already assessed the feeble condition of the bridge, then why couldn’t they have had informed the general public about the condition of the bridge? And aside from the attempt to construct a pass way, which was filled up with rubbles and sand; boldly/naively in the course of the river itself; which was washed away by the summer rapids nevertheless, did they have other plans in mind to allocate traffic and communication/transportation for those on the other side of the river? Or was it that the officials from the department had full faith with the local firm who supposedly had guaranteed it would last for 75 years?
We urge the Minister to fulfill his statement as to ascertain the cause of the tragedy and lay out the concrete facts as to whose incompetence it would have been: Mother Nature’s or unheeding authorities’? This is essential for the people so that we would face the facts and act accordingly and more cautiously in the future and so we urge our Minister, Vikheho, to stand by his commitment and not deprive the people of the vital information at the least.
We also urge the officials of the department to come up with a way to build a temporary bridge, to ensure the continuation of transportation and communication of the people starting from United Village, 4th mile. A suggestion is that they could build a plank modeled bridge, with high quality materials, for light vehicles, which could be done quickly, until the completion of the real bridge.
The incident is unfortunate but a long due lesson has been taught to every Naga, that…not knowing does not pay after all.
LDPN, Press Bureau.
ldpnagaland@gmail.com
