Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink : Assuring piped water supply
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 22 2017 -

Five years down the line and where will Manipur stand ?

It is obviously to answer this that the BJP has highlighted the gist of Vision for Manipur on the front page advertisement of all the major newspapers in the State on February 21.

Sparing nothing to drive home that the BJP is the party which can take the State forward in the next five years and this is a refreshing change, far removed from the war of words with the other political parties, especially the Congress.

And in highlighting some of the key areas which the BJP will emphasise on, it is also stating that this is where the Congress has failed in its 15 years of being in power.

Some of the interesting points highlighted by the BJP included, piped drinking water to every household.

This is a point with which it can hit the Congress hard. Fifteen years in power and yet majority of the households do not receive piped water supply.

One here is not talking about the villages or the interiors but the State capital Imphal.

Majority of the households in Imphal do not receive regular water supply through the pipes laid by the Public Health Engineering Department.

This is the reason why water tankers are doing brisk business and in some localities, water is even being sold by the buckets.

To think that this can happen in a place where there is heavy rainfall and the failure of the State Government becomes all that more visible.

It is because of the good rainfall and the failure of the State Government to ensure regular water supply that many households have their own pond.

Other than household ponds, there are community ponds in every locality and this should more than say something significant about the dismal water supply in the State, including Imphal.

It is this which the BJP has assured to look into by promising ‘Give Piped Drinking Water to Every Household’ in its Vision Document. Not that the Congress has not delivered a promise on this count.

It was during the flag hoisting ceremony of Congress candidate Govindas Konthoujam at Bishnupur Assembly Constituency, that the Chief Minister urged the people to vote back the Congress to power and assured that water supply would be dealt with the same way power supply was addressed to after the 2012 Assembly election.

True power supply has improved remarkably in the last 2/3 years and it was this which the Chief Minister was trying to capitalise on.

It is to address this issue that construction work of Mapithel Dam started 2/3 years back.

But as things stand now, water supply to households continues to be a joke and most household get water supply through the tap only twice or thrice a week and too for some few hours or minutes, depending on the locality in which one lives.