In peacetime, Manipur prefers to travel or transport goods on National Highway-2, a lifeline that connects its capital Imphal to the rest of the country through Nagaland to the north.

During periods of conflict, however, the State reluctantly falls back on the other lifeline—the more arduous National Highway-37, connecting Imphal and Assam’s Silchar to the southwest via the interstate border town of Jiribam.

NH-37 becomes almost unnavigable during the rainy season every year, but it has been a safer option than NH-2 whenever Manipur is on the boil. Inevitably, NH-37 gained strategic importance after the Kuki-Meitei ethnic conflict that erupted in May 2023, followed by the Kuki-Naga hostility, which led to indefinite blockades along the hilly stretch of NH-2.

The State’s fate, partly tied to the condition of its highways, is expected to change after December 2026, the target set by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) to make NH-37 “comfortably motorable”. The project includes repairing six critical stretches—Keiphundai, Shantikhunou, Barak, Nungba, Rengpang, and Irang—covering a total of 39 km.

Meandering along the 110.6 km Imphal-Jiribam railway line, targeted for completion by December 2028, NH-37 is considered vital for India’s Act East policy, which envisages unhindered surface connectivity with Southeast Asia. Accordingly, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways sanctioned a ₹1,300-crore project in 2022 to widen and upgrade 203 km of the highways 224-km length into an all-weather road.

Officials said the Centre has so far released ₹1,040 crore, or nearly 80% of the sanctioned project cost.

Multiple challenges

The project includes straightening the curves, fortifying landslide-prone areas and sink zones, and replacing ageing Bailey bridges with concrete ones under seven separate packages. NHIDCL officials said packages I and III have been completed, while work on the remaining five packages is 85-90% complete.

People using NH-37 said that the travel time between Imphal and Jiribam has been reduced to 4-5 hours from 7-8 hours earlier. However, they face the “same old problems” of potholes, waterlogging, and landslides during the monsoon months.

According to the NHIDCL, recurring damage during the rainy season has been a major challenge to completing the NH-37 upgrade. Other challenges have been technical, administrative, and local.

NHIDCL deputy general manager Rafique Ahmad Choudhury said extensive surveys, land disputes, natural calamities, and protests by villagers living along the highway slowed the project. He said a major problem arose when 488 households in the package II stretch sought compensation for land that fell within a protected forest.

“They were ineligible for compensation under the existing rules. The Manipur government resolved the issue by approving an ex gratia payment of ₹70,000 per household on humanitarian grounds,” he told The Hindu from Imphal, adding that all other time-consuming legal hurdles had been resolved.

He also said that a dramatic increase in traffic on NH-37 due to the closure of NH-2 since the ethnic conflict in May 2023 had accelerated the wear and tear on stretches under construction, affecting the progress of work.

The All-Manipur Road Transport Drivers and Motor Workers’ Union, however, faulted the NHIDCL’s pace and quality of work. It blamed repeated landslides on steep vertical hill cutting during road widening and rainwater flowing across the carriageway due to blocked roadside drains.

The NHIDCL rejected the allegations, claiming that there had been no compromise in the quality of construction or maintenance work.