Water Crisis and the State
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: March 27, 2015 -
Water Scarcity : People fetching water on March 26 2015 :: Pix - Shankar Khangembam
With most parts of Manipur facing water crisis, the people can only expect the State Government to respond to the issue in a more effective way.
Though the State is yet to witness a drought like situation, there have been reports on how most water sources both in the valley region and the hills have dried up leading to scarcity of the life sustaining element of nature.
When a State or a region faces such a crisis, it is natural for the people to expect that the Government would tighten its grip on the situation so as to prevent bigger mass pain that the ruling dispensation cannot handle.
It has been reported that Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has stopped supplying water to Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), Imphal.
Reacting to the failure of the Government to provide water to the hospital, the Additional Medical Superintendent of JNIMS has gone on record stating that attempts made by hospital authority to deal with water shortage through private suppliers have not been successful.
This obviously means that the hospital is left with no other option but to provide minimum healthcare services to the public. Here, what one should look at is not whether the Government has been able to restore water supply to JNIMS or not.
The failure of the PHED is an unmistakable sign of the usual shoddy preparedness of the State Government machinery facing any daunting crises.
Though, the State has improved a lot over the years on streamlining both urban and rural water supply system, the quality of services provided so far seems to be far from satisfactory.
It should also be remembered that the State is yet to witness massive and rapid growth in urban population which impacts the overall planning framed by the Government.
This means, dealing with the situation effectively now will definitely result in attentive preparedness for the future.
While doing so, the Government should also remember that undue advantage is not being taken by private players in the water-business.
Leaving the issue at the mercy of private players will obviously means a dent in the mandate of the Welfare State.
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