Jal Jeevan Mission: Water supply schemes inaugurated in two villages on the Indo-Myanmar border in Manipur

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on October 25, inaugurated two water supply projects for two villages on the Indo-Myanmar border in the state under Jal Jeevan Mission.  

Khangbarol village of Khengjoy subdivision of Chandel in Manipur is about 30 km from the Indo-Myanmar border and has 82 households. The water supply system has been made keeping in mind the projected population of the village about 1,000 by 2041.  

With an estimated cost of Rs. 60 lakhs, this gravity-based water supply system ensured tap water connection to all 82 households (present population i.e. 450). There is a perennial source of water from "Khangbarollok" which is only 6 km away from the treatment site.  

The second village is Khengjoy in Khengjoy subdivision of Chandel district that is about 20 km from the Indo-Myanmar border. The newly inaugurated water supply system caters water to 73 families and the operation and maintenance of the scheme are with the Village Water & Sanitation Committee under the Jal Jeevan Mission which is to ensure the regular and long-term supply of potable water in rural areas. 

Accessibility remained the biggest challenge in the implementation of the water supply schemes as it is a hilly area and the region is inaccessible during the monsoon season. Transportation of material is merely possible during a specific time and all the materials were transported either from Imphal or Pallel town. The next biggest challenges of the area are having poor network coverage, so in most case dedicated man-power mobilized in the area adding constrained to the already limited manpower or workers. Despite COVID-19 pandemic, the officials of the Public Health Engineering Department had worked hard to ensure tap water reaches every rural home in these far-flung villages of Manipur. 

A mid-term review of the implementation of JJM in Manipur was held recently, wherein Manipur State officials presented the reach to the National Jal Jeevan Mission team. To assess the progress of implementation of the mission in States and UTs, a mid-year review is underway through video conferencing, wherein all States and UTs are presenting the status of the tap water connection to rural homes as well as the institutional mechanisms in place for universal coverage.  

Manipur has around 4.5 lakh households, but till now only 30,379 households have tap water connections. During 2020-21, the State aims to supply two lakhs FHTC. During the current year, State is planning for 100 per cent coverage of one district and 15 blocks and 1,275 villages. The state has planned for 100 per cent provision of household tap connections by 2023 under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). 

In 2020-21, an amount of Rs 131.80 Crore has been allocated to the state of Manipur, out of which Rs. 32.95 crore has been released to the state. The state is eligible for extra allocation supported on physical and financial performance. 

Since Manipur has been allocated Rs. 177 crores under 15th Finance Commission Grants to PRIs and 50 per cent of it is to be used for water supply and sanitation, the state has to plan for utilizing this fund for rural water supply, grey-water management and most importantly for ensuring long-term operation and maintenance of water supply schemes.