WILLIAMNAGAR, Aug 16: The Centre’s flagship Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) has been expected to be a game changer for the entire country with Meghalaya being no exception. However in some cases, like it has been with the village of Awanga in East Garo Hills, the story has been a life changer – but for very wrong reasons.
Awanga is located about 2 km from the main town of Rongjeng. The village lies on the Mangsang – Adokgre route. It consists of at least 69 households with an approximate population of 420.
As per locals, the village had sufficient water supply that catered to almost the entire area, most importantly to the UP/LP schools of the village, the Church as well as the community hall.
However, after JJM was implemented, the old tank that supplied water to the village has not only been dismantled but all avenues of potable water now lie in shambles. The village now has no water supply as the JJM scheme is yet to be operational and the old tank and all of its old pipes have been fitted by the contractor into the new project.
A visit to the village showed that the new local tank meant to supply water to all 69 households has been moved further uphill, at least by 150 metres. The walk to the tank itself – a complete uphill climb – took close to half an hour to get to.
“We are currently at our wits end as the water supply to our village has stopped due to the JJM project still not being properly functional. Currently none of the households have got even a drop of water from the project and everyone is suffering,” the local alleged.
Reacting to complaints of lack of drinking water supply in several villages across the state, PHE Minister Renikton L Tongkhar said, “This is an ongoing work and lots of ratification may be required. There will be problems when work is in progress but it will stabilise soon. It will take some time.”
He cited continuous rainfall, difficult terrain and rise in price of GI pipes as some of the major challenges affecting speedy implantation of the JJM in the state.
