Summer spells water woes for Chingjaroi villagers
Source: Chronicle News Service / R Lester Makang
Ukhrul, April 01 2022:
As summer arrives with soaring temperature, the age-old water scarcity crisis is coming back to haunt the villagers of Chingjaroi Khullen village under Jessami subdivision in northern Ukhrul.
Foryears, Chingjaroi Khullen village has remained one of the most water-starved villages in the region, especially during summer.
Speaking to The People's Chronicle, Thotmathing Rk, former president of Youth Organization Chingjaroi Khullen, said that the village is currently facing acute water shortage with the onset of summer.
He informed that the only two existing pipelines at the Christ King Parish Centre and the upper region of the village have been rendered futile after the sources dried up recently.
This leaves over 2000 population of the village with no other option than to depend on traditional ponds and springs.
However, most of these water bodies are also fast drying up, he continued.
He related that the recent showers brought the villagers some respite from the water scarcity.
"But as high temperature continues for days, these water sources have become exhausted again," he said.
According to Thotmathing, the most affected lot in this situation are students and womenfolk who spend sleepless nights trying to collect a bucketful/potful of water.
For many of those households whose parents remained in the held, the children, mostly students have been compelled to forego their studies as they try to collect water for themselves.
Most of the women folk are hit with double whammy as they have to spend nights at the pond waiting for the seepage after a daylong toil under hot sun in the held, he said.
"Many of these women could not fill their pots till dawn," he said, while adding that some other villagers who woke up before the dawn and rushed to the ponds, had to return empty handed as even those who spent sleepless night at the pond were still waiting to fill up their pots.
The villagers appealed to the government to immediately look into their dire situation due to the prevailing water scarcity crisis and address the same on a war footing.
"Our only hope is for the government to implement the Water Augmentation programme in our village without delay," the villagers said.
They said that taking cognizance of the villagers' plights due to water scarcity; Chingai MLA Khashim Vashum had included the village in the programme worth Rs 3.52 Crore under the New Development Bank (NDB) funding.
As per the DPR of the scheme, water from the existing source located beneath the village habitation, would be pumped up to the hill top using Solar Pumping technology to bring in pipeline in to the village.
It is learnt that the foundation stone for the project was laid by the MLA in December, 2021.However, the implementation got delayed due to announcement of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the recently concluded 12th Manipur Assembly elections.
"Now that, the elections are over and the MCC already lifted, we urge the state government, PHE department and the agency concerned to expedite the implementation of the project to resolve our problem," the villagers pleaded.
Chingjaroi Khullen located about 63 km north of Ukhrul district headquarters, is said to be one of the oldest settlements among the Tangkhul villages.
The village is nestled beneath the famous Chingjui Matha Mountain.
According to the villagers, the high altitude of the village location is the main reason for its perpetual water shortage crisis.
They said that the fore fathers of the village had chosen the location for settlement for security reasons, as they believed that high altitude habitations were safe in the olden days when headhunting was prevalent.
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