Water scarcity at Tamenglong hampers the lives of people

Daniel Kamei

TAMENGLONG, Jan 29 : With the arrival of the dry season all water springs and streams and even the department of public health engineering`s, PHED, water reservoirs have dried up. Normal life has been affected due to scarcity of water at Tamenglong.

Interestingly, like a competition people are getting up at dawn and rushing to ponds and streams to get some water. Even though Tamenglong is known to be getting the heaviest rainfall among the districts in Manipur it received the last rain in September 2008. The skies are covered with clouds since few days back no rain has been received till today.

To improve the drinking water facilities, the PHED had received a sum of Rs. 4,70,000 from the ministry of department of north eastern region (DoNER) under Non Lapsable Central Pool Resources, NLCPR for Composite Water supply Schemes for Tamenglong district. Under the scheme works had been executed by the PHED through Jesse Kamei, a special contractor since first April 2004, but drinking water facilities have not improved much.

In the meantime, Dingsung Pamei, convener of the Committee Against Anti-Social Elements while interacting with this correspondent said that PHED had received a huge amount of Rs. 4.70 lakhs under Non Lapsable Central Pool Resources from DoNER but this scheme was not implemented well. The bazar area had not received any water supply since few weeks, he stated.

Further, he also stated that there are many water sources and the PHED could tap the water with the huge amount of money received and supply sufficiently through the scheme. The water reservoir at the water intake site at Joulane is reported to be leaking. A huge amount of money had been received but water was supplied only to bazar area and that too not sufficiently, he regretted.

On the other hand, the Zeliangrong Students Union Tamenglong headed by Joseph Daimei, vice coordinator and PHED linemen convened an inspection of the water intake site on January 17, 2009. While interacting with the IFP, he said water was available in plenty at the intake site. The intake point is not built properly and needs major renovation to provide sufficient water for the small district of Tamenglong, he said.

"It is a great surprise and disappointment to see that PHED had diverted the water to private individuals before reaching the main reservoir distribution point at headquarter," Joseph Daimei said.

He went on to say that disunity among PHED and land owners over water catchments may also lead to scarcity of water at Tamenglong district headquarter. Some acres of land had been kept reserved but they did not enjoy any facilities from the government and they sometimes disturb the water lineman, he regretted.

Joseph Daimei also strongly condemned the altitude of PHED for avoiding public leader`s complaint as they were not in the station. He also appealed to the concerned authority to take up necessary action.

On the other hand, no water had been received in the district hospital since last few weeks. They got help from fire brigade service department and PHED but from last week till today no water was supplied, the source added.

In the meantime, the water operator or water chowkidar said that no water was at the water reservoir, as all water had dried up at the stream. The reservoir takes 5 to 6 days to fill and we distribute to public once a week, he added. During this dry season water dried up and we are helpless, he regretted.

In the meantime, as per guidelines of the Non Lapsable Central Pool Resources and composite water supply schemes 16.880 heads of population are to be covered by 2019 AD. Water supply level is 70 litres per capita per day to 70 percent of 16880 head through domestic connection and 40 litres per capita per day to 30 percent of 11880 heads to be supplied through PSP/System.

In the meantime, the PHED official said that the department was working hard to supply more water to this district. We will pump up pool water and filter and after testing we will distribute to the public, the official added.