In Manipur, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held a massive rally in Chief Minister N Biren Singh's constituency Heingang and urged people to vote for the 'double engine' government, he also lauded the state government for providing over 3 lakhs households with tap water. The state government had put a 2022 deadline for 100 per cent coverage of potable drinking water in the state. However, despite the fast-tracking of piped water, many areas even in the state capital Imphal are facing an acute water crisis.
"For the women... they had to struggle for drinking water. The double engine government under the Jal Jeevan Mission has ensured piped drinking water. Before this, 25,000 houses had piped water. Today, 3 lakh houses have piped water. Will my mothers and sisters not bless us for this?" the Prime minister had said.
Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, over 3 lakh households have received piped water in the last three years in Manipur. That's just about 55 per cent of households with a tap water supply. However, the Centre had released Rs 120 crore for this project and the Biren Singh government had promised 100 per cent coverage of tap water by 2022.
There is a marked improvement as compared to the Congress regime, but a walk around Imphal reveals that the crisis is still far from resolved.
At the Dimdailong locality of Imphal, adjacent to the posh colony of Sanjenthong where all top bureaucrats and top cops live, 50-years-old primary teacher Amumei Golmei has a daily routine of fetching water from a safe source seven kilometres away.
Mr Golmei says he was forced to buy a vehicle to fetch water for his own domestic needs and cut expenses. He used to spend around Rs 3,000 to buy water every month. Now he only spends Rs 1,000 after buying the vehicle. Not only can he save money but the investment in the vehicle is turning out to be an income-generating venture as he supplies water to other households as well.
"Supplying water isn't a business for me yet. I bought this vehicle for the maintenance of my personal family needs. I'm in good enough health to fetch water now, but for how long?" Mr Golmei told NDTV.
About 60 households in his locality still don't have tap water. Even though they live in the heart of Imphal, they still have to buy water at Rs. 200 per 1,000 litres. First, the Congress regime during the 15 years of Ibobi Singh left them high and dry, now even the BJP is yet to fulfil its promise.
"We hope to get piped water as the pipeline was laid a year back. However, there has been no progress after that," said P Pamei, a local resident.
This area comes under the Wangkhem constituency where there is an intense multi-corner fight between the BJP, NPP, JD(U) and Congress candidates. When confronted on why the Congress government was so slow in providing piped drinking water, former Chief Minister Ibobi Singh said PM Modi was lying.
"BJP is lying...Modi is not God...They were in power only for five years and we were for 15. We have set up all the infrastructure. Yes, I admit that they have bought a few new pipes for new connections but that's all," he said.
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