TURA, March 30: Residents of Ballonggre area in West Garo Hills have alleged that their perfectly working water system has been completely destroyed after the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) was implemented in their area. They have also alleged that it has been months since they have gotten water supply due to which they have to purchase water for everyday tasks.
However, the PHE department, which has been overseeing the supply of water, stated that water was being sent to the overhead tank for supply, albeit the same was not reaching households due to the person, entrusted with overseeing the supply, not working on the supply lines on time.
“We had a perfectly working water system before, and while not every one of us was connected to the water lines, there were provisions for all to get access to safe and clean drinking water. However, once JJM was implemented, the same has just gone downhill for us,” said Ballongre resident Jackuis A Sangma.
Jackuis said that the issue of theirs had been raised with the PHE department not once but on several occasions but to no avail.
The project was completed by BSC Infratech for a cost of Rs 1.3 crore in the early part of 2022 by replacing the old PHE lines.
A visit to the locality, about 7 km from the centre of Tura, showed a massive new water tank that has been set up, apparently under JJM. Connections from the tank have been provided through pipes. The water intake pipe to the main tank is 6 inches though the pipe, apparently carrying water to the intake pipe, is inexplicably smaller (4 inches).
For the residents, about 1600 of them, everything that could go wrong with the water system went wrong.
Firstly, none of the households have been reportedly provided pipes to their homes. There is no tap or platform, something that has been seen in all such projects.
“The contractor has placed drums near the road in about 5-6 places with about 15 connections in each drum. They employed this shortcut and then asked us to buy pipes to connect to each house by ourselves. Some of our houses are more than 100 meters from the drum connection. With most of us being daily wagers, how do they expect us to connect these pipes,” asked Nokma of Ballonggre, Nonsing Ch Marak.
He added that they would still have managed the connection but then there is no water that reaches the houses of even those who have managed to connect pipes to the drums.
“This has led to us going without water for over six months. Sometimes we get water that is not even enough to fill a bucket. We have never had such problems when we had the earlier PHE connections. However, they have blocked that connection and we have gone completely dry,” he added.
Meanwhile, Jackuis informed that to overcome the problem, he set up four water connections through various pattas but that too did nothing to alleviate the problem.
“Despite four connections, I have not been able to fill up even a small tank. We sometimes get only about three buckets through these connections. We have had to buy water to meet our daily needs. I can’t understand as to why we are being deprived of water which has been guaranteed through the JJM scheme,” he asked.
Further, the locals added that they were also asked to deposit some amount per household for water connection, all of which they did.
“We now have to pay not only to the PHE for water but also for JJM. We would not have a problem in doing so but for there being no water in the pipes to our homes,” added Denilla Momin, another resident.
Interestingly, one resident, Kalseng Momin, informed that when the connections were being set up they were told by the development committee president that they had the option to each choose water pipes to the house or the main supply tank itself.
“This was told to our former president by someone from the department and he said this in a meeting. This made no sense. How would we get water if there is no overhead tank to supply water?,” asked Kalseng.
“We have only one request from our end. The JJM project has been set up to alleviate our problems. This Modi government-led project is meant to benefit us all but if they implement things in this manner, we will never get a drop of water. We only want the project to be implemented in earnest so that all of us can live without worrying about where the next drop of water will come to our houses,” added the Nokma.
Another woman added that since the implementation of the project in their area, she has not even got a litre of water through the connection.
The villagers have now decided that they would no longer work on verbal complaints.
“We will now write this officially to the department so that they understand what kind of situation we are being faced with on a daily basis. As to why despite our complaints, no one has come to visit, is beyond our understanding,” added Jackuis.
For another, the project is just for show.
“We have a big overhead tank and huge pipes but all of this is for nothing. We would have been happy if we just had water to our houses instead of this useless show,” he added.
Meanwhile, upon being contacted on the matter, SDO Hizar G Momin claimed that the problem lay in the operator, who is also the land owner and who, as per them, was not releasing water to households.
“Water has been going to the overhead tank but the operator is not releasing the same. This is also the dry season and we are rationing water. There is no reason for them not to get water as it is being released on a regular basis,” said the SDO.
The SDO also stated that an agreement had been made by the villagers of individual household taps not being provided as the villagers’ contribution for JJM was forfeited. No written agreement, however, was found and the SDO stated that it was done in good faith.
“Sensing the fact that the locality is growing on a yearly basis, we increased the capacity of the overhead tank to 1.3 lakh litres from the provisioned 1 lakh capacity. The project caters to over 190 households and we have provided connections that they can draw from when more people come. However, the project has not provisioned for household connections as it was beyond the budget of the project. We want them to know that we will work to ensure the water reaches them though they have to also ensure the operator works on stocking and supplying the water when we release it,” informed Hizar.
Both these assertions were, however, denied by the villagers, who stated that for the operator to supply water, water had to reach the tank in the first place. They also refuted any agreement on household tap water connections.
“All along the route of the water supply, no water has leaked from the pipes, which just shows that water is not being sent. We only request that this is rectified as early as possible,” added one of the residents.
A PHE team is expected to visit the village on Friday.
The PHE SDO has, meanwhile, emphasised that the system would be rectified after an inspection.
