PHE Minister assures to address problem of water shortage in Ratacherra

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJanuary 6, 2022

PHE Minister Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar on Thursday assured to look into the acute water shortage faced by Ratacherra village for the past many months.

Established in 1951, Ratacherra has been identified as one of the twelve ‘areas of difference’ shared between Meghalaya and Assam.

When asked about the request made by the dorbar shnong for extending the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission to the village, Tongkhar said he will find whether Ratacherra is in the list of the schemes sanctioned recently.

The minister also expressed confidence that the Assam government will not stop if Meghalaya implements the JJM in the village.

“As I have stated that for the water supply, if they do from Assam we will not stop and if we do from our side also Assam will not stop – that is a good thing,” he said.

“If it (scheme) has been sanctioned (for Ratacherra), we will do the work and Assam will not stop us,” Tongkhar further stated.

Headman of the village Desous Pohshna had recently informed that the villagers have to buy water for the past many months to meet their daily requirement.

He also added that the dorbar shnong had approached the department for implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission in the village.

“The department has already surveyed the source of the water and now it is under process. We hope that this will be approved so that it will ease the problem of shortage of water supply,” he said.

According to him, implementation of the JJM will to a great extent help in addressing the problems of the villagers.

Ratacherra has a total of 287 households with over 2,228 population.