Once infested with insurgents and sans development, two villages located a few kilometres away from the Indo-Myanmar border in Manipur, have now started getting regular water supply under the Union Jal Shakti Ministry’s Jal Jeevan Mission.
Chief Minister of Manipur N Biren Singh on Sunday inaugurated the two water supply projects for the two villages Khangbarol and Khengjoy in Khengjoy Sub Division of Chandel district in the North-eastern State.
In Khangbarol, there are 82 households and the water supply system has been designed keeping in mind the projected population of about 1,000 till 2041.
With an estimated cost of Rs 60 lakh, this gravity-based water supply system ensured tap water connection to all 82 households with a present population of about 450. There is a perennial source of water from “Khangbarollok” located at a distance of 6 km away from the treatment site, said an official from the Mission.
He said as the source is located at a higher elevation than the treatment site, gravity-based water supply scheme was taken up.
For another village Khengjoy which is located about 20 Km from the Indo-Myanmar border, the newly inaugurated water supply system caters to the water need of 73 families by providing tap water connection.
Now, the operation and maintenance of the scheme is with the Village Water & Sanitation Committee as envisaged under the Jal Jeevan Mission to ensure regular and long-term supply of potable water in rural areas.
The official said providing water in these villages was not easy as accessibility remain the biggest challenge in implementation of the water supply schemes as like those in many hilly areas as the region is inaccessible during the monsoon season.
Transportation as well as communication are biggest challenges as the area has poor network coverage. In most cases, dedicated man-power mobilisation remains a challenge.
In spite of Covid-19 pandemic, the officials of the Public Health Engineering Department had worked hard to ensure that tap water reached every rural home in these far-flung villages, sources said.
Manipur has around 4.5 lakh households, but only 30,379 households have tap water connections. During 2020-21, the State aims to provide 2 lakh functional tap connections. During the current year, the State is planning for 100 percent coverage of 1 district and 15 blocks and 1,275 villages.
The State has planned for 100 per cent provision of household tap connections by 2023 under the Jal Jeevan Mission.