By Shoshon A.gitok Sangma
Water is precious for the survival of mankind as well as animals and plant. In the coming winter months the residents of Tura Town will be once again face acute water scarcity caused by lack of proper distribution and maintenance by the PHED and poor planning of Tura town. The annual water scarcity in Tura is not a new issue. Its persistence has resulted in misery for the deprived sections of the society and affects the livelihoods of many people. Every year the District Administration would convene an emergency meeting with the stakeholders of the society such as Government officers, NGO’s and public etc. to discuss and chalk-out a strategies for action. After lengthy discussions they finally decide to adopt stringent laws and take punitive action against those people who dump their respective garbage directly into the river water; to stop insanitary practices along the water bodies or direct defecation in the rivers. The District Administration would impose prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPc along the areas where people reside near the water source. These are commendable steps taken by the District Administration but the truth that these are mere gimmicks and short term measures. No effective steps have been taken to rectify the problem permanently. The irregular and unequal distribution of PHE water is a matter of grave concern. While the residents of some localities get continuous supply of water without hindrance in other localities only a small quantity of water is being supplied and sometimes not even a drop of water comes. Common people don’t have any extra money to spend on purchasing water. Neither do they have money to drill personal bore wells. Now the few influential people (government officers and bureaucrats), living in the particular locality or area of Tura Town are gearing up to overcome the drought-like situation by drilling and installing a bore-well or tube well at their respective homes to substitute the daily needs of water.
How can this sort of haphazard drilling and installing of personal bore-wells without any No Objection Certificate (NOC) be allowed? Or have they got permission from the competent authority? Have they considered that what they are doing is posing a direct threat to the underground water body in particular and environment as a whole? Are they aware that their actions will lead to ecological imbalance due to depletion of natural underwater reservoir? This is also an illegal activity as it defies the rules and regulations laid down by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) under the Ministry of Water Resources, constituted under sub-section (3) of section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. How can such illegal activities and rampant exploitation of underground water resource by individuals go unnoticed and continue to happen under the nose of the WATER RESOURCES department? Instead of watching and safeguarding the environment from man-made destruction which has led many ecological disturbances in the present state and are still waiting to happen on a larger scale in the future the Water Resources Department remains a mute spectator and has turned a blind eye to such illegal activities.
My question is what is the role of the Water Resources Department? What are the officers/engineers engaged in? What is the purpose of the Department or will they only focus on agriculture and irrigation sector? What about the illegal and rampant drilling of bore-wells in and around the Tura Town and other parts of Garo Hills? From my observation, this year alone indiscriminate drilling of bore-wells was carried out in two different localities in Tura Town. What happens if every house owner in this town drills a bore well? Will we not reach a stage of desertification? Mother Nature has gifted us with a precious water source (Ganol River). It is the duty of the concerned authorities to stop indiscriminate extraction of ground water. As citizens we too need to get together and check the privatization of water by digging private bore wells. After all water is a common property resource. An aquifer serves the water needs of the entire community but if it is destroyed through drilling it will deprive the entire community of water!