Khowai: Decades after independence, residents of Praja Bahadur Molsom Para in Nonachhara ADC Village, under Mungiakami Block of Teliamura subdivision, continue to survive without access to safe drinking water, relying instead on untreated water from hillside streams for their daily needs.
Every morning, villagers — including women, the elderly, and young children — trek to nearby hillsides carrying pitchers and containers, collecting water from rocky streams after hours of waiting. During the monsoon, the water becomes further contaminated with soil, decaying leaves, and debris, yet residents say they have no alternative and are forced to use it for drinking, cooking, and household needs.
Locals allege that prolonged use of this contaminated water has led to widespread waterborne illnesses, including diarrhoea, dysentery, and stomach infections, with children and elderly residents among the worst affected. Limited access to healthcare, financial constraints, and difficult terrain mean many suffer silently without proper treatment.
Villagers said the issue is not new and has been repeatedly raised with the administration through appeals, memoranda, and requests to elected representatives, but no permanent solution has been implemented to date.
“We don’t want luxury or big promises. We just want our children to stop falling sick from drinking dirty water,” residents said, calling access to safe drinking water their most basic demand.
The prolonged neglect raises questions over whether development schemes have reached the state’s remotest communities, even as authorities are yet to respond to the villagers’ longstanding appeal.