KHONSA, 2 Mar: Pullong village under Tirap district has reportedly been facing severe water scarcity for nearly 30 years now.
In a complaint letter to the executive engineer of Public Health Engineering (PHE), Khonsa, villagers apprised that “it has been nearly 30 years now since the domestic water supply connection of Pullong village was disrupted. “
As per Chanya Bangsia, a resident of Pullong, “the pipelines have been laid, taps installed, but not a drop of water is seen.”
She informed that the village does receive water supply once or twice a week. However, it gets disrupted for several months together, and then resumes its course of once or twice a week supply.
“In the wake of Covid-19 situation, people were advised over and over again to practice proper personal hygiene to prevent the spread of the virus by washing hands frequently. Our villagers struggled to cook and complete other basic domestic work, let alone enjoy the luxury of washing hands every now and then,” Bangsia said.
“Water is a basic human right and is fundamental to human dignity. However, in our case, we have been deprived of this basic human right for nearly 30 years now,” she added.
The village’s only sources of water are rain-fed small streams, brooks and springs, some of which completely dry-up during winters, while some accumulate very less amount of water, insufficient for the entire village of nearly 100 households, forcing the villagers to wander miles away in search of water sources.
Bangsia said that the villagers have informed the PHE EE’s office on many occasions about the water scarcity, but no measures have been taken in this regard.
The Khonsa PHE executive engineer did not respond to the calls and messages sent by this daily.
