Filthy water supplied by the Public Health Engineering Department is now the norm, not the exception, Congress legislator for East Shillong, Ampareen Lyngdoh, said in the Assembly today.
Highlighting the matter during Question Hour, Lyngdoh quipped, “If we don’t die of Covid, we may die from cholera.”
The MLA even brought a sample of the muddy piped water to the Assembly to reinforce her point.
In reply, PHE Minister Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar said that a pipeline which had been laid some time ago had collected soil and when the water was run through the pipe for the first time recently, it came out muddy.
The opposition MLA, however, was not done as she had also brought photographs that showed that the water in the reservoir itself was muddy.
To this, Tongkhar said that he hoped that the water would become clear gradually and that tests have been conducted a few times.
Lyngdoh also produced another photo, this time of the Umkhen reservoir, which is not related to the Greater Shillong Water Supply Scheme.
“This water goes to Nongthymmai, Pohkseh, Lumiablot, Malki and many other places,” she informed.
According to Lyngdoh, the issue was brought to the notice of the PHE Department. She said that all that is required to supply the whole of Shillong with this water is 700 pipes at a cost of only Rs 50 lakh.
In reply, Tongkhar said, perhaps sarcastically, “I am very happy to hear that it can be repaired at only Rs 50 lakh. But, as per the estimated amount prepared by the department for the renovation of the Umkhen Water Supply Scheme, it reached around Rs 13.2 crore.”
