Shillong, Dec 16: The Meghalaya High Court on Tuesday took a suo motu cognizance of the news report of water shortage in the city.
A division bench of the Meghalaya High Court, consisting of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice HS Thangkhiew, while hearing the case, admitted the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Registrar General of the High Court.
While admitting the PIL, the High Court heard the argument of Counsel S Sen, who drew the court’s attention to news reports in relation to the water crisis in certain parts of Shillong.
According to the court, Sen submitted that the city is grappling with a water crisis for some time and the people of Shillong are facing difficulty due to acute shortage of water.
Meanwhile, Advocate General, Amit Kumar submitted that he will look into the matter and file a report, if possible, by Wednesday, when the case will next be held.
All parts of the city except Laban, Lumparing, Nongthymmai and Laitumkhrah have been left without water since December 10 due to bursting of the main water pipeline at 101 Area in Upper Shillong. The pipeline feeds water to the city from Mawphlang reservoir.
Although the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department had assured to complete the repair of the damaged pipeline by December 14, yet the repair work remained unfinished due to another breakdown of the pipeline.
Affected residents have been forced to buy water from private suppliers at inflated prices. For 1000 litre of water, people have to shell out Rs 700 to the suppliers. From morning to evening private water tankers can be seen shuttling around the city trying to keep up with demand.
A faint trickle of water came through the PHE pipes on Tuesday evening but represented a false hope to struggling citizens as it was not nearly enough to meet the needs of the people.
Meanwhile, the opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) has criticised the state government’s response to the recent water supply disruption in Shillong, describing it as “unthoughtful” and lacking urgency.
VPP spokesperson Batskhem Myrboh stated that while emergencies are unavoidable, the government’s response to public services should be prompt and prioritised. “Accessibility to water constitutes the right to life and the government should have attended to the matter with great responsibility to save the people from hardship,” Myrboh said.
Myrboh emphasised that the concerned department should have explored temporary solutions to provide water supply to the affected residents, who have been deprived of this essential service for nearly a week.
The Hynniewtrep Youths’ Council (HYC) also expressed outrage over the repeated collapse of the water supply system in Shillong, citing chronic pipeline failures and urging the PHE Department to take immediate action.
In a letter to the PHE Minister, the HYC condemned the frequent and prolonged disruptions, stating that the situation has become a civic crisis. The organisation blamed years of neglect, poor infrastructure planning and lack of accountability within the department for the recurring pipeline bursts.
“The continued failure to ensure access to clean and uninterrupted drinking water is a basic civic right,” the HYC stated, questioning governance, financial utilization, and departmental efficiency.
The HYC has demanded a high-level technical and administrative audit of Shillong’s water supply infrastructure, time-bound replacement of obsolete pipelines, and disciplinary action against those responsible for the lapses.
The organisation warned that continued inaction will compel them to pursue public and legal remedies, stating that the people of Shillong cannot be expected to endure administrative apathy and infrastructure collapse indefinitely.
