Soon a bus from Imphal to Mandalay

The Manipur government is set to have a long-awaited link to Myanmar,with a luxury bus service set to be launched from Imphal to Mandalay. This will be the first proper link between the two countries,said Manipur Chief Secretary D S Poonia

The Manipur government is set to have a long-awaited link to Myanmar,with a luxury bus service set to be launched from Imphal to Mandalay. This will be the first proper link between the two countries,said Manipur Chief Secretary D S Poonia.

Hectic work is on for the double-laning (and in some parts four-laning) of the existing 326-km road from Imphal to the border town of Moreh. The upgradation of the last 18 km is likely to be completed by March 2012,said officials.

At a meeting on December 28,the state government decided that the pilot scheme would be launched by February-March,right after the new state government is sworn in (Manipur goes to Assembly polls on January 28). An inter-ministerial team led by the Union Ministry of Road and Transport Highways has undertaken the project.

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Currently around 250 buses operate between Imphal and Moreh daily,carrying an estimated 1,500-2,000 passengers. The government will identify three private luxury line firms which will exclusively travel this route. The passengers travelling between the two cities will switch buses at the border using the Burmese transport dedicated for the project and chosen by the Myanmar government.

By 2016,Manipur is expected to get its first rail link as well. The attempt will be to take the railway line into Myanmar as well. Eventually this is the route which will give us access to the whole of South East Asia and is in consonance with the Prime Ministers Look East policy, added Poonia,calling the road link a likely backbone of the planned trans-Asia highway as well as the trans-Asia rail route.

There already exists a certain informal kind of traffic between the two countries,which have extremely strong socio-cultural ties. There is a very large Manipuri community that has been living for generations in Kabaw valley in Myanmar. There is a sizeable population of Manipuris living in Mandalay itself.

The link,however,will only be operational in the non-monsoon months between October-April. This is because a 115-km stretch from Monywa to Kalewa in Myanmar is impassable in the rainy season. The state government has requested the Ministry of External Affairs to take up the matter with the Myanmar government and to persuade the Burmese to hand over the stretch to BRO for upgradation.

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The MEA has already confirmed that the Myanmar stretch of the route is secure. On the Indian side also the route will be secured, said officials.

In a letter dated December 19,the MEA has also suggested group visas for Indians as well as Burmese travellers. The ministry is likely to request Myanmar to open a visa office at Imphal.

Apart from boosting trade between the two countries and cultural ties,we expect the link to help us curb informal trade such as smuggling, said Poonia.