Shillong, Jan 6, 2014: Much has been said and written about the water crisis in Shillong yet it seems nothing is being done to actually tackle the problem mainly due to the confusion on who is responsible.
Nearly every street around Shillong has what appear like ‘natural springs’ flowing down to gullies because the underground pipes are not maintained.
Many pipes supplying water from the municipal tanks to houses have leakages caused by lack of proper maintenance and some are purposely made to prevent air lock as well as provide water to those who do not have house connection.
On Temple Road, Lachaumier repair work was carried out on the underground pipes but since December of last year the leakages have reappeared.
Residents complain that their water supply is being interrupted due to the constant leakages as well as the fact that even though it is mid-winter it looks like during the monsoon as the road is constantly wet.
“We have tried to lodge a complaint with the authority again after the leakages were not properly repaired but no action is taken till date,” said an elderly resident of that locality.
While explaining the situation to this reporter, S Lyngdoh, the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Executive Engineer (EE) in charge of Division-1 of the Greater Shillong Water Supply Scheme (GSWSS) said, “We have written to the PWD (Public Works Department) and to the Board (Shillong Municipal Board) and once we get the go ahead from them we will commence with any required repair works.”
Lyngdoh further stated that his department is not responsible for all repair and maintenance work and if there is any repair work to be done, the PHE Department has to seek permission from the PWD and also the SMB which takes a lot of time.
“Our job is to supply the water to the tanks and from there on it is the Municipal’s lookout,” the EE said, adding, “It pains me to see so much water go to waste but because we have to work together with different authorities, it takes time to repair the leakages.”
The bottom line is having too many authorities to tackle one problem is more like throwing the spanner in the works, so if there is a central agency to manage the water supply system as well as the maintenance of roads, then the blame game would stop and millions of tons of water could be saved by having quick and efficient maintenance.(SP News)
