Manipur: A Land of Scarcity under the Rule of Democracy or Is It Autocracy

Prof JC Sanasam *

Water scarcity in Imphal City as on 23 April 2014 :: Pix - Deepak Oinam

Has Manipur turned into a Byzantine land of the 3rd Century AD during the last days of Roman Empire when Constantine Gallus and his men rode horses and chariots, and enjoyed whiplashing the common folks on the roads who strode there for their hard toil to survive? The irony is that the people in the vicinity of the water reservoir in the neighbourhood, the location of the water reservoir, are exempted from touching the water whereas the water from that neighbourhood is carried through pipes to far distances to reach the residences of the so-called VIP's.

Is Manipur a land of VIP only? ...This is a clear example that the ministers, planners/administrators, technical advisors are no good; they have not learnt the know-how. If they have not learnt, cannot they take new courses afresh and do what they are supposed to do?

A shameful event it is; but it is not surprising because it occurred in Manipur. This week when the financial year is just to begin, a disgraceful scarcity of water, as everybody knows it, has hit the state.

A matter of sheer mockery is as soon as the milieu and people in the media start worrying about this scarcity, PHE (Public Health Engineering) people came down and destroyed connections of pipe water to houses in some neighbourhoods. Those smug workers who dug the earth to disconnect said these disconnections are to save water for supply to the VIP's.

The irony is that the people in the vicinity of the water reservoir in the neighbourhood, the location of the reservoir, are exempted from touching the water whereas the water from that neighbourhood is carried to far distances through pipes to reach the residences of the so-called VIP's. Is Manipur a land of VIP only? It is evident enough right under the nose of the commoners that the privileged few enjoy the luxury of water at their homes whereas the majority commoners are parched with thirst and left to have their bodies to stink without a single drop of water to take bath.

Has Manipur turned into a Byzantine land of the 3rd Century AD during the last days of Roman Empire when Constantine Gallus and his men rode horses and chariots, and enjoyed whiplashing the common folks on the roads who strode there for their hard toil to survive? The few privileged ones did these acts just for pleasure of showing their conceit, dominance and swaggering authority.

The difference of scenario in Manipur is that the ministers, MLA's, bureaucrats and military guys, in the role of knights, ride cars well polished, instead of chariots, well guarded by gun wielding security jokers in jeepsy's front and rear. They force through crowded streets in the city and long distance country roads in peripheral and far flung areas with their hooting siren, legitimate or not. The citizens shambling poor monkeys, male female, no matter monkey children or monkey oldies, they have to run away for life or to avoid the cursing barks from the gun wielders. What a pity!

California, a west coastline state in the US, has hardly any rainfall throughout the year. Its picturesque cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and rest of its larger part are at the west pacific coast, expanse of water adjacent. But we cannot use sea salt water for drinking or for bathing normally. The proverbial saying: 'Water, water everywhere; but not a single drop of water to drink.'

However, a citizen of US including those on these coastline cities consumes 50 gallons or 200 litres of fresh water daily on average. Wherefrom they get their drinking water? The sizes of watersheds they built up to supply drinking water for individual cities range from 57,000 acres (San Bernardino) to 140,000 acres (Los Angeles). This much is what the US states do for the people.

Fine, let us put California aside; it is by far a superior state to Manipur of India. Coming to our areas, a survey of water sources in the northeast of India revealed that Manipur is second to Assam in its abundance. Then why this scarcity in Manipur? Forget for drinking, there is no more of water to take bath even.

This is a clear example that the ministers, planners/administrators, technical advisors here are no good; they have not learnt the know-how. If they have not learnt, cannot they take new courses afresh and do what they are supposed to do? It came out in the news, unofficial but true, that the minister concerned is out of station when the state is in crisis related to his department. What a state, what a government!

That is why many sang out, 'Is election worth in Manipur. Election or no election people of Manipur will ever remain like the monkeys in the animal house for experiment.'

The surreptitious workers who dug to disconnect said, 'Well, you got to buy water from the water-tank-carriages for your use.' Has the government established a rapport with water-tank-carriage owners for a booming business? That too is a failure. Now the recent news is that there is no water source anymore for these carriages to collect.

Manipur is aspiring for attractive tourist spots. Will it be presentable to tourists of international class whereas the state is a failure in the realm of drinking water nay water for taking bath even? It is time for the enterprisers of Manipur to establish an industry for supply of drinking water in a large scale, not the bottles or jars in the market.