Monsoon hasn’t arrived yet in Arunachal and the rains currently lashing the state are due to temporary climatic disturbances. But that what has arrived in the minds of its citizens is a feeling of fear, anxiety and disgust at the sight of roads which have started taking shape of all but landmine wrecked ones. It is a feeling which visits unfailingly each year this time around and if the prelude carries any indication, it can be said that coming months are going to be tough, if rectification exercises are not undertaken forthwith on a war footing. It’s Longding district now in news and expectedly there will be more.

Although it’s a cliché, it must be accepted that roads are lifelines of any nation and any sort of their disruption causes an instantaneous negative effect on its people.It is that hopeless state of existence which cuts off goods from reaching daily market places, employees from places of work, students from schools or the sick from hospital and so on. And sadly, this ‘darkness’, majority of which can be attributed due to man-made reasons descends upon a large part of nation bringing under its sway a huge part of the population. It is really difficult to imagine roads without potholes and it has been accepted as new normal of the Indian way of life with chances of accidents always hanging like sword of Damocles. But the hardships and tragedies have become so regular and repetitive, the fact that more Indians die due to road accidents than terrorist attacks hardly create any feeling of shock.

In Arunachal, the challenge of building new roads is more in proportion when compared to mainland of the country since the topography is hilly and covered with forests. But it is an unavoidable and crucial infrastructure need since there is no other major viable means of communication. For accessing any social service benefit like poverty alleviation programme, health, education etc, reaching the administrative points like district or sub-divisional headquarters within time is so very essential. And it needs little emphasis that the state has not reached that desired tempo of development due to this single factor alone.

The new roads that are coming up are will no doubt exert a positive impact on the state’s developmental goals. At the same time it is quite apparent that the existing ones also need equal attention. And in this age of information the causes of their shabbiness and deplorability aren’t too hard to decipher. It is also high time to realise that roads are meant to be used by all and potholes and accidents wouldn’t spare anyone.

Keeping in mind this reality, mending roads with qualitative monitoring before the onset of monsoon must receive highest priority.