One of the favourite slogans of BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and caretaker Chief Minister N Biren Singh was that before 2017 only 6 per cent of people were availing drinking tap water in the state of Manipur and now 62.19 per cent families are having that facility. Well, there is some truth in it as pipes had been laid to give safe drinking water coverage in many areas and also the process of pumping water from Thoubal Dam to Chingkhei Ching Water Treatment Plant had begun. In 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Jal Jeevan Mission to provide drinking water to all rural households by 2024.
The same year, Jal Shakti Abhiyan was also launched to campaign for water conservation and security. In 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for a Rs 3,050 crore worth Manipur Water Supply project which would benefit large parts of the state. But pipes need water for it to reach the homes. Again the problem is when water comes in the pipes, the push is not enough for the water to reach the water tanks installed at homes without a pump.
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Practically, every home had to have a water pump without which the water comes in trickling. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also launched ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ campaign aimed at water conservation to reduce the problem of water scarcity in the next dry season. With these two important missions on the run, one could certainly hope for better water security in the near future. However, we are more concerned right now about the acute scarcity of water facing the state.
With springs and rivers drying up, catchment areas lying in waste and wetlands vanishing, the future is very bleak for our state. Manipur experiences water scarcity due to lack of facilities to harvest rainwater and destruction of catchment areas, as per reports. Manipur has been receiving an annual rainfall of 1,467.5 mm, which is higher than the national average. There are also reports showing that 42 per cent of the natural springs in the hill areas of the state have vanished.
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But now, Imphal city is facing acute scarcity of potable drinking water. Manipuris have rather an uncanny sense of capitulation in the face of distress or otherwise. It is the same in the case of acute water scarcity facing the state now, more particularly in Imphal city. Water is not flowing in the PHED pipes anymore since the last one month or so and people are buying water from private water tankers at exorbitant rates and no one seems to bother.
Major portions of Imphal city have been facing water scarcity and have had to depend on private water tankers. In fact, private water supply has become a booming business. It is rumoured that even a powerful minister in the last government was very much involved in the private water supply business, while on the other hand some enterprising people have started opening private water treatment plants near the rivers, even in the Chief Minister’s own constituency.
For those who could afford to buy 10,000 litre at Rs 7,000 and 1,700 litres at Rs 500, it is alright. But to the poor urban families, it has become a major burden with the MLAs turning a blind eye to the woes of the poor who cannot afford to buy water. The VVIPs and VIPs, to whose homes and quarters water is delivered by government water tankers on a regular basis, might have been blind to the acute water scarcity facing Imphal city now.
