Shillong: Meghalaya claims 84 percent of homes have tap water. Residents see a different story. Pipes and tanks stand empty in the Phulbari region. Shyamnagar, Masangpai, and Bangranggre residents deal with systems that remain dry despite official connection records. Chief Minister Conrad Sangma ordered an immediate reality check. He wants to know how many pipes actually deliver water.
The state PHE department faces a Rs 900-crore funding hole. Central government payments have stopped. Contractors are stuck with massive debt and want half their pay. A government official noted that some infrastructure is currently nothing more than a "decorative" feature. The state blames procedural delays at the Union Ministry for the cash crunch.
Official data claims a leap from 4,550 connections in 2019 to over 542,000 today. Still, the reality varies across the state. South Garo Hills leads the numbers. The Chief Minister’s home turf of West Garo Hills sits at just 73.60 percent coverage. Residents near Shillong complain that even working taps only drip twice a week. The state now shifts focus to retrofitting old systems under Jal Jeevan 2.0 to finally get the water moving.
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