Morung Express News
Dimapur | June 16
Potholes galore, the roads of Dimapur become dust bowls during the winter and swamp land during the monsoon. ‘Smooth Ride for Dimapur’ – a mission that was sown by the Act of Kindness back in 2015 has today grown to find support in the form of the Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC).
The DMC in collaboration with AOK resurrected the pothole filling mission by formally launching the project in the main town area on June 16. Commissioner of Police, Dimapur, Limasunep Jamir launched the mission outside the entrance to Holy Cross Higher Secondary School on Friday evening.
Jamir, commenting on the mission objective held that the nature of any event cannot be measured in numbers “but the intention is what matters.” Stating “Self help is the best helper,” he added, “We cannot see tremendous change in one go. But I believe we are jumping onto something with a firm conviction.”
While stating that a sense of ownership is what matters, he said, “Dimapur with all the rickety infrastructure is still our city.” He further expressed confidence that the initiative would turn out to be a path breaking venture for the city’s road to recovery.
Moa Sangtam, DMC administrator said the ‘Smooth Ride for Dimapur’ project is part of the DMC’s broader ‘A Better Dimapur’ programme launched earlier this month. “DMC is sponsoring all the materials and machinery that will go into the smoother ride initiative,” said Sangtam at the launch programme.
With regard to the ‘A Better Dimapur’ programme, Sangtam said that it comprises of 3 components labelled: Greener Dimapur, Cleaner Dimapur, and A Healthy Dimapur, which have already commenced. The programme is slated to culminate in November, to be followed up by another. Following the first phase, Sangtam said that there will be a review of the programme based on which the second phase would likely be launched by December or January. He said that at the heart of the programme is public collaboration.
“We are targeting the mindset of the people. We would want the people to inculcate civic sense,” said Sangtam.
“If change does not start with ‘I’ then we need to stop complaining and we need to stop expecting anything from anyone else,” was how AOK summarised the concept behind ‘Smooth Ride for Dimapur’.
