Water water

We have been living outside Manipur for some 15 years now but visit home whenever we find an opportunity from our busy schedules and call of duty, which unfortunately turns out to be after gaps of some one and half to two years. Living in a highly developed and fastly changing place like Punjab and Chandigarh, one cannot but hope that there would be some sort of development in Manipur whenever we visit home. I also make it a point to tour extensively and touch the distant corners of the state every time I visit home and observe how people are living, the condition of the local environment etc, but unfortunately, there is very little development to talk about.

There are many difficulties besetting the state and I would just like to focus on some of the basic problems faced by common people on a day to day basis. There is no study done, no serious observations made, this is simply plain experience that we underwent that also reflects the basic problems of the state.

One such problem is the shortage of potable water. In a place considered to be rich in biodiversity, in the tropics, surrounded by rain-forests, blessed by the first onset of monsoon, endowed with several perennial streams…it seems like an irony that there is shortage of water. Supply of drinking water is almost non-existent and where it does exists it is not exactly non-reliable for various reasons like the timings are erratic, it is insufficient in quantity, sometimes the quality is such that it is not fit for human consumption. Given the insensitivity of the concerned authorities – be it politicians or babus, and given the fact that Manipuris are not in the habit of complaining and instead are known for taking things in good stride and devising innovative ways to meet new challenges (even though many such problems are avoidable) it was no surprise to find that most people now depend on mobile water tankers which supply water to homes for their daily needs. The practice started some years back and today it has become a well established network with different agencies looking after different “leikais” or localities. The widespread penetration of mobile phones and the crashing of call rates of most mobile service providers has ensured that almost everyone has a mobile – including the “mobile tanker walas”. You need to just dial a number and water will be deliverd at your doorstep.

In many parts of Imphal city area, where there has been a huge growth in construction, especially of residential places, leading to congestion, mutistoreyed buildings, it would normally have been a problem to deliver the water, especially to overhead tanks which are sometimes located 3-4 stories high and that too when there is no regular supply of electricity to think of. (that is another story for a later time – electricity !). However, the water tankers have devised ingenious methods of overcoming the problem. Each of the tanker is fitted with a motor at the rear for pushing up the water through a long hose pipe. Lo and behold every nook and corner of a household is now accessible!

Compare this with the scenario of some 15-20 years back. In the so called developed city areas there was some semblance of good tap water supply, which was mainly used for drinking and cooking purposes. Those were the days when attached bathroom/toilets are a rarity even in the city areas and most other requirement for bathroom toilet, washing etc purposes are met by the waters from the good old “pukhri” or pond which is a common feature in almost all homesteads, even today. In the countryside and villages, there was no tap water supply and people rely only on the pukhri. To tide over emergencies like drought and to meet the requirement of the general public, many leikais/localities have pukhri achoubas or public ponds, which acts as huge reservoirs of water, basically fed by rain-water. Some of these were commissioned by kings, dug under the patronage of rich businessman of old days, family ponds (sagei pukhri) etc. The most famous of these public ponds is the “Ningthem Pukhri” located at Wangkhei and is in fact the largest man made pond in Manipur. Legend has it that it was constructed in 1726 during the reign of Maharaja Garibniwaj/Pamheiba and that the Maharaja himself supervised the construction work. As the pond was constructed under the patronage of the King, the pond came to be known as “Ningthem Pukhri” or the “Royal Pond/Lake”