Singngat Water Woes

Singngat, my hometown, in Churachandpur district of Manipur, is 291 kms away from Cherrapunji, the once world’s wettest place. But it is a place of perennial water scarcity. The problem conitnues, year after year. People have to go fetch water to streams that are over one and one-and-a-half kilometres away. All the hand pumps are not working and no repairs have been carried out till date by the concerned authorities. This, at a time when the world observes World Water Day and when the buzzword everywhere seems to be 'environmentalism.' What’s the point of a million-dollar IPL and Commonwealth Games and multiplexes and flyovers and metro when people somewhere in the far corner of the country barely manage to take bath even once in a week!




Based on the information obtained from the Ministry of DoNER's website, Rs. 213.26 lakhs (2.13 cr) and Rs. 204.64 lakhs (2.05 cr) were sanctioned under NLCPR schemes for Augmentation of Water Supply at Thanlon on June 6, 2009 and Singngat on July 20, 2009. Out of these, Rs 67.18 lakhs and Rs 64.45 lakhs have been released for Thanlon and Singngat, respectively.

But no work has been started.

The Zogam MediaWatch has filed an RTI application to the Ministry of DoNER regarding these projects. Response from the Ministry is being awaited.

Here's a news report from The Sangai Express:

CCpur trio invoke RTI at Delhi

Imphal, March 30 2010: A group of people from Churachadpur district along with students pursuing studies at New delhi have approached Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of Ministry of Development of Northeast Region (DoNER) seeking information with regard to implementation, if any, of Central sponsored schemes in Churachandpur district.

An informed source said the petitioners on March 27 filed their application to the CPIO seeking information on the status of utilization of Rs.213.26 lakhs and another amount of Rs.204.64 lakhs sanctioned for augmentation of water supply scheme at Thanlon and Singhat sub-divisions respectively, under the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) of the DoNER ministry.

Referring to contents in the website of the Doner ministry wherein it had been mentioned that Rs.67.14 lakhs and Rs.64.45 lakhs were released but the utilization record display nought, the petitioners including L Samte, J Tonsing and S Thomte raised posers as to whether or not the project has begun.

Invoking clause of the Right to Information Act the trio sought copies of the detailed project report of the schemes in addition to demanding information with regard to the proposed sources for the supply of water for the scheme.

"Is there any time-frame for completion of the implementation of the said projects?" also questioned the applicants.

Qquoting local villagers that the said schemes are yet to be constructed, they also highlighted that Singhat, a sub-divisional headquarters about 30 kms away from Churachandpur district headquarters, faces perennial water scarcity problem.

Further mentioning that piecemeal efforts were made in the past to mitigate water scarcity problem but to no avail, they also cited a previous scheme undertaken in the mid-90s also failing to yield the desired result as the engine (water pump) installed to supply water and store in a reservoir developed technical snag.

Detailing that hand pumps installed in the village are also defunct and no repairing works have been carried out till date by the concerned authorities, the petitioners suggested that to solve the water scarcity problem, long term measures like pumping up of water from large rivers like Tuivai or Tuitha be experimented.

School going children who are in the midst of their exams are busy searching for water when they should have been studying and the problem is so severe that taking bath even once in a week is considered a luxury, mentioned their application.