West Shillong areas reel under water scarcity

SHILLONG, Oct 1: The dorbars in the West Shillong constituency have been filling up the PHE tanks in the localities to tide over a temporary water crisis due to a major pipeline burst.
Parts of the West Shillong constituency have been reeling under water scarcity for a week and the situation is unlikely to normalise soon.
“We received a notification that the supply will be disrupted on September 25 and 26 but there is no water for a week now. I tried to contact the municipality and the PHE, which said a pipe had burst. We understand this can happen but the public should be told clearly,” Aries Thabah, the Mawbah Rangbah Shnong told The Shillong Times.
He said the people of the locality started buying water from tankers, who have now doubled the rate from Rs 600 to Rs 1,200 because of the demand.
“They have no option but to buy at an exorbitant rate,” the Rangbah Shnong added.
“To provide some sort of respite for the people, our dorbar has started buying 3,000-4,000 litres of water and filling up the PHE tanks to supply to the households. We are distributing water directly from the tankers to people who do not have tap connection,” Thabah said.
Wanjop Pyrbot, the Rangbah Shnong of Mawprem said the area has not been receiving water for five days. “The PHE worked for three to four days on a damaged pipeline that supplies water to Upper Mawprem and now I am told another pipe in the 101 Area has burst,” he said.
“Is it not the duty of the government and the municipal body to provide water in tankers if they are unable to repair the pipelines in time?” he asked.