Imphal, December 18 2008: "SOMETIMES, WE couldn't even enjoy our traditional feasts like ushop in some areas of our locality due to unpleasant smell coming out of their backyard as well as courtyard", says Sorokhaibam Ingobi, Zila Parishad member of Sagolmang village while reacting to the sanitation scenario in his village.

Sagolmang is a small village,around 25 km north of Imphal in Manipur's Imphal east district having only about 58 households with around 140 electorates under Pukhao Gram Panchayat.

Unlike Imphal West district villages, most of the villages under Imphal east district are under-developed in all fronts not to speak of developmental programmes like Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC).

"In our village,we've only about 5/6 pucca toilets, others constructed in village style" Ingobi further informed.

And those who do not have, carry out open defecation along the bank of Iril river which passes the village on the eastern side.

If the present trend continues, one day we may be the victims of certain unknown epidemics in our area, he said and added that the diarrhea is a common disease among the villagers mostly the children since the last many years.

But the good news is- the village received couple of forms for the selection of beneficiaries of TSC programme in the area through their Pukhao GP Pradhan Inao.

Similarly Wakhong village across the Iril river having a population of around with 560 under 90 households also have hardly one or two pucca toilets.

"Most of the households here uses kutcha toilets" says Thangjam Inaobi, General Secretary of Young Gold Club of the village who is not aware like that of Sagolmang member on the government sponsored sanitation campaign informed in a brief interaction with this report recently.

Most of the Wakhong villagers have their toilets on their backyards which falls the river bank of Iril which is the main water source of nearly 60 percent of state capital's population.

Sharing a similar feeling with Inaobi, Yumlembam Jadumani,the lone teacher of nearly 70 students of Lower Primary School at Wakhong village which falls under Uyumpok Gram Panchayat also agreed that diarrhea is become a common disease among the village children and others due to lack of proper sanitation in their village .

In May this year, besides Imphalites, the villagers on the either side of the river refused to use the Iril river water for sometime after the report of polluting the water due to certain factors.

Even though there are frequent cases of diarrohea and the like among the village children of Sagolmang, Wakhong, Pukhao Laipham etc, the Sagolmang Community Health Centre, the only and biggest health centre of the area,is yet to compile a report in this regard till date.

"Even if we submit our monthly report to the head office,we couldn't compile the statistics of such epidemic as we got not feedback from them(higher ups of health services)" Dr Ibungochouba,medical in charge of the 20 bedded CHC, Sagolmang said.

According to official reports available here,state's lone implementing agency Public Health and Engineering department (PHED) is lanning to construct as many as 25,219 individual households sanitary toilets and also 804 toilets in schools in Imphal east district which has over 50,272 households.

"We need to cover our target within 2012.However as of now we have managed to construct 1252 toilets including 1244 BPL card holders and 130 schools", a senior engineer of Executive Engineer office of Imphal East,PHED said.

Out of Manipur's 29,6354 households 66,692 does not have toilets as per 2001 census.

But the state government officially claimed to have a coverage of 79.86 percent of the entire households in the current year 2008-09.However senior government officials here again rejected the report saying the monthly report of the concerned Executive Engineers' office of the concerned district are genuine.

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