The Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren launched a water treatment plant at Chingkhei Ching in Imphal east district on Sunday. The plant has a capacity of 45 mld. With this launch the plant shall provide water to the people, initially in the Imphal city.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Biren said that the people should not have a headache since the government had taken up several steps to cope with the shortage of water in the State.
He said, “Once the pipeline works are completed the plant will start providing water.” He also asked the people not to bore the main pipe for illegal connections. The government felt that the plant would be able to provide water to several areas before the arrival of rains.
The Singda dam, which has been supplying water to vast areas, had closed down a few weeks back as there was no water. The source of water for the dam and others in the State, is the rivers. However, all rivers except the Iril river had gone bone-dry.
Private water tankers are collecting water from this river. Now, they are charging ₹400 per 1000 litre of raw water, a hike of ₹100. The private tankers say that they would stop supplying water from the first week of March since the Iril river water was fast drying up. All government and private hospitals are facing problems since there is no water for the hospital works.
Mr. Biren also appealed to the people to plant trees to check rapid deforestation which was the main cause of the drought-like situation every year. He regretted that the mountains were bereft of greenery as most people had started growing poppy plants.
