Village in Diphu survives only one on ring well

Vivian Longki Rongpi

Diphu, Jan. 19 (EMN): Rongkangthir Dengja Teron village in Dhansiri constituency of Karbi Angling Autonomous Council consists of more than 80 households. It is situated 12 km away from Diphu along the Diphu-Manja road. This is the main feature of the village—it depends only on a single ring well to meet their drinking water requirements. This Eastern Mirror correspondent has visited the village on Jan. 18, Thurs.
A senior citizen of the village, Mongolsing Teron, told the Eastern Mirror that ‘no public representative has even bothered to visit the village in its 70 years of existence.’ With only one ringwell the residents face much hardship; the villagers queue from midnight to avail water.
The resident informed also that the villagers are even forced to collect water from a few shallow pits that are also frequented by domesticated animals—this exposes the residents to various diseases.
He said that the villagers have ‘not seen the face’ of local representative in the Autonomous Council (MAC) Pradip Diphusa till date.
The villagers don’t recognize the Public Health Engineering (PHE) in-charge EM Pradip Rongpi; he informed that if the ringwell water gets exhausted ‘we collect the water from the machine-made shallow pits.’ The condition of the people there because of the scarcity of water which makes the lives of the people there miserable, added Teron. He has urged the authorities to do the needful to meet their requirement.
The matter about the shortage of proper water suplly in the area was reported in a local daily ‘Hill Observer’ circa previous year on Feb. 1. The problem is attributed to the negligence of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC); the authorities have failed to address the problems of the villagers who have so far made several complaints in the past too.
The presence of fluoride has been reported in the area. The PHE department established the Rongkangthir pipe water supply scheme through the Diphu rural water supply division. But it has also been lying dysfunctional for the past many years.
The water pipe carrying potable water from Siloni to Diphu is in the vicinity of the village. The villagers have requested the KAAC and the PHE department to provide safe drinking water facility at the earliest.