Just a few water drums but catering to a lot of residents living in Tongdentsuyong ward. Water scarcity runs high, so such private distributors have to come to the rescue for the residents to meet the daily need of water, of course with a little price for the water. (Morung Photo)
Mokokchung, March 25 (MExN): With water scarcity running high and the PHE department apparently in a limbo, residents in Mokokchung have decided to draw drinking water from a private distributor that supplies some hundred gallons of water per day.
Like the rest of the town Tongdentsuyong Ward is one colony which has been hit hard by the dry season. “Since the PHE department could not supply regular water, we have decided to draw water from this pipe,” said Arsashi a resident of the colony while pointing to a pipe which caters to some twenty residents.
“We decided to take out the pipes which were used earlier to draw water from the PHE pipelines and now we put them as railings on our steps,” he added sarcastically. The residents take turns to draw water from the pipe. For each ‘drum’ of water (approximately 200 gallons) the water-distributor charges Rs 40. Besides the ‘common pipe’ for the residents, some families draw water from individual pipe-lines.
“Sometimes, during occasions, we use more than a thousand litres of water, so the amount comes to around Rs 500,” he added. Though the rain gods have smiled on the people, yet the rainwater is not drinkable since water collected through rooftops are as black as black tea and can be used only for washing and cleaning. Therefore, water carriers on pick-up trucks are still in huge demand, but as reported earlier, they cannot cater to the huge demand in the town.
A walk pass the PHED office saw some consumers paying the water bill. “I just paid my bill,” said Amenla a resident of Kumlong ward, “The water comes very less and quite erratically but the bills come regularly on time.”
The Mokokchung Town Lanur Telongjem (a youth organization in Mokokchung town) has filed RTI to get information from the department. “People should stand up and voice out. They should not only depend on associations or unions but stand up for themselves. People know that they are not getting water and yet they are keeping silent,” said Akangnungsang Jamir, the General Secretary of the Mokokchung Town Lanur Telongjem.
But with water scarcity affecting everyone, the resentment against the government is visible. “Access to clean, hygienic and potable water is a human right, we have a right to get clean drinking water,” said an entrepreneur and an RTI activist, who wished not to be named. The rains have finally arrived, but everyone knows that the dry season will come once again after the monsoon. The public resentment will continue unless the Public Health ‘Engineering’ Department comes up with some pro-active steps to finding a solution to the water crisis.
“If it is public health engineering, then I wonder what the word engineering means, if they cannot come up with a solution,” said an entrepreneur, the sarcasm about the word engineering was obvious.
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