Mysterious case of the Rs 26 cr water supply project

Atono Tsükrü Kense
Kohima | April 27

Over a decade has passed since a water supply project taken up by the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) at Zhadima village was approved and funds were sanctioned. However, the project which was expected to provide water supply to 24 villages under Chiephobozou Block of Kohima district, is yet to see the light of day.

With scarcity of water being an incessant problem in the district and elsewhere in the state, the project was initially taken up with high ambition of providing water supply to 24 villages, catering to the needs of 9,190 households under Chiephobozou Rural Development Block.

The commencement of the project then brought a huge sigh of relief for the villages. But, as years went by, the project became more of a myth as the actual progress of the work vastly contradicted the department’s claims in response to an RTI application filed on March 8, and departmental sources.

This elusive project is also currently under investigation by the Nagaland Lokayukta.

Though the project is incomplete and non-functional till date, it was learnt that an amount of almost Rs 25 crore has been utilised out of the total Rs 26.26 crore that was sanctioned.

The background
As per an RTI response from the PHED, the project named ‘Providing water supply to 24 villages under Chiephobozou RD Block’ was sanctioned under the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) for Rs 26.26 crore.

It may be mentioned that NLCPR scheme came into existence in 1998 under the Planning Commission and was transferred to DoNER in 2001. The scheme was initiated to ensure speedy development of infrastructure in the Northeast Region by increasing flow of budgetary financing for new infrastructure projects or schemes.

The central government started releasing fund for the project on December 13, 2010, and out of the total Rs 26.26 crore, the RTI reply stated that Rs 24.96 crore was released for different components while Rs 1.26 cr is yet to be released.

Land measuring 4.53 acres was also purchased from four individuals at a lump sum cost of Rs. 4.50 lakh for the project. As per the DPR, the proposed water source is Vithorü stream between Zhadima village and Nerhema village, from where water will be treated and pumped to the hill top of Zhadima village and distributed to all 24 villages by gravity flow.

A time frame of two years was allotted to complete the project, with the first sanction approval letter issued by the Director, DoNER on August 3, 2010, categorically stating that “the time frame for completion of the project is 24 months.

The date of this sanction letter would be reckoned as the date of start of the project, target date of completion of the project would be August 2012. Time is to be followed strictly.”

Accordingly the project commenced on November 2011, as per the RTI response.

Six years after the targeted date of completion, when the department was all set to commission the project on July 30, 2019, the PHED Minister and his entourage were met by irate villagers on their arrival at the Balancing Reservoir Site, Zhadima. This reportedly stalled the commissioning of the project.

Why the villagers stalled the commission
While the RTI response claimed that the “assets constructed are functional… structures are lying unused because the villagers were demanding for more water tanks,” the villagers begged to differ.

Several of the villagers that The Morung Express spoke to, questioned the logic behind commissioning an incomplete project. They also pointed out that that no distribution pipelines were fitted to the units.

Notably, Neilalhoulie Soliezuo, the Chairperson of Zhadima Village Council said “only 65-70% of the works was completed. No distributions pipes were connection and there is leakage in some water tanks.”

He maintained that the villagers protested in 2019 as the department was not only haphazard in their work but also wanted to commission the project without actually completing it.

Substantiating the same, Water & Sanitation (WATSAN) Committee Chairperson Roko Angami that said on the same day (July 30, 2019) PHED Minister the PHED Minister, Jacob Zhimomi had assured in presence of his colleagues and villagers, that the works would be completed by December 30, 2019.

However, Angami said till today nothing has been done and no official from the department even came to visit the site in all these years. “They shouldn’t try to fool the villagers. This is a project for the villagers, and we will not keep silent on this issue,” he asserted.

A twist in the tale
Although the department in its Detailed Project Report (DPR) had ambitiously mentioned ‘24 villages’ as beneficiaries of the water supply project, there appears to be a twist in the story.

Highly placed sources in the PHED disclosed that only 9-10 villages are to get water connection through this water supply project, and not as projected in the DPR.

“In actuality only some 9-10 villages will be getting the water connection from this,” a source told this newspaper, while another concurred with this.

It was revealed that department has proposed deep bore wells and water pumping from natural water sources for the villages that were left out. And the department has claimed to have undertaken deep bore wells in some villages, although proposal for deep bore wells for Zhadima village put up 2021 has not been taken up yet.

Interestingly, the bore wells which were supposedly completed and pumping water were untraceable upon physical inspection at the sites.

In this connection, the Chairperson of Seiyhama Village Council said unsuccessful attempts to dig two bore tube wells were made in 2018, after which there has been no attempt or word from the department. He said that the village has been suffering from water scarcity for a long time now, and till today, they have to bring water from their paddy fields for consumption.

While the Rs 24.96 crore water reservoirs now stand like a decorative monument, the big question remains — what will be the plight of the 24 beneficiary villages who continue to reel under acute shortage of potable water?

Source: https://morungexpress.com/mysterious-case-of-the-rs-26-cr-water-supply-project