Imphal, April 20: Despite the various water supply schemes taken up by the State Govt to provide safe drinking water to the people of the State, villagers of Sundangshenba Maring Village have to still walk three/ four Kms to fetch water to meet their daily requirements.

Located only 22/23 Kms away from Imphal on the Nagriyan Hills, this tiny village is inhabited by about 100 families with a population of nearly one thousand.

The village falls under the jurisdiction of Senapati Dist.

Talking to The Sangai Express, a group of girls in their teens informed that most of their time has been spent on fetching water for the household chores from water sources located three/ four Kms away from the village.

Besides this, the females are also involved in adding to the family's income by producing cane products and collecting firewoods for domestic purpose, they added.

Water scarcity problems were never witnessed in the area in the earlier times as a pipe which was connected to a water source at Baruni freely supplied water to the village but things have changed radically within the last two/three years as water supply from the pipe has decreased considerably forcing the villagers to look for other water sources, informed the villagers.

Elaborating more on the cause for the shortage of water in the area, one of the elders of the village informed that rampant cutting of pipe by unidentified persons at Heinou Houbi Pothapham is one of the major causes for the reduction of water supply to the village.

Many preventive measures had also been taken by the villagers to protect the pipe but the attempt has completely failed as the pipe has to travel 30 kms to reach the village from Baruni Hills.

Another important feature of the village, is the prevalence of early marriage of young girls in the village.

Girls of the village usually get married at the young age of 15/16 and a woman who does not get married even after twenty years is taken as a spinster.

The males on the other hand have no age bar and usually gets married according to their convenience.

Joining in the conversation, principal of the only primary school located in the village informed that both the young girls and boys are equally given educational facilities in the primary stages but unfortunately majority of the young girls drop out after the primary education and join in the domestic works of the family.

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