Kohima: Residents of Zhadima village, about 19 km from Kohima town where water balancing reservoirs were built under Nagaland’s mega water project for Rs 26 crore, has asked the government to implement the work within 60 days.
In a representation addressed to the chief engineer of Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), the Zhadima Village Council (ZVC) has urged the department to expedite the process of supplying pipeline water to all 24 villages within 60 days.
The letter dated June 6 said that many tall promises made are yet to be fulfilled.
The village council said the people have “been taken for granted” and that the department concerned is trying to “play a cut throat game where the department is trying to placate the masses with false RTI replies while trying to subjugate the innocent villagers of their basic rights”.
In response to an RTI application filed by senior journalist Atono Tsükrü Kense, the department had claimed that the “assets constructed are functional” and the “structures are lying unused because the villagers were demanding more water tanks”.
The water supply project was sanctioned under Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) for Rs 26.26 crore, of which Rs 24.96 crore was released for different components starting December 13, 2010, while the remaining amount of Rs 1.26 crore is yet to be released by the ministry.
Recently, the department had claimed that Rs 130.20 lakh, which has not been released to the department, has affected the completion of the project and that water supply is made available in 11 villages.
To this, the ZVC questioned which are the 11 villages where the water supply has been made available and why only 9 villages are to be covered through pumping while the project was earmarked for 24 villages.
They also questioned which were the remaining 15 villages that are to yet to receive the water supply.
The village council said it is constrained to submit the representation which should be treated with utmost exigency as it will not be “responsible for any untoward eventuality”.
Also read: A decade on, Nagaland’s Rs 26-cr mega water supply project still incomplete
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