Local leaders of Manthali, Ramechhap, have urged the provincial government to make additional plans for water supply in the district. Locals say even after pumping water for 18 hours using electric motor, there is no water supply in household taps.

Recently, Economic Affairs and Planning Minister Kailash Prasad Dhungel of Province 3 had said that the local leaders have plans to end the water crisis, but those plans have not taken off due to lack of money.

The water project which was launched by the federal government five years ago is still incomplete.

Province 3 Chief Minister Dormani Paudel has also expressed his commitment that the province government will soon resolve the issue according to Dhungel.

The local Water Consumers Committee has been working at night to distribute water to 900 households in Manthali.

Jagdish Subedi, Coordinator at the committee, said, “We don’t have big tanks to store water. For now we are collecting water from small tanks and supplying water to households.”

The Manthali Drinking Water Project, started by the federal government, has been in a limbo for a long time. Even though the project constructed a tank with a capacity of 300,000 litres, there is no pipeline to connect the water tank.

A well was constructed on the bank of Tamakoshi, but there is no pipeline to distribute water.

Lekh Bahadur Karki, member of the committee, said, “The consumers will breathe a sigh of relief if the government allocates the budget to resolve the problem of water shortage.”

Though the infrastructure is in place, people have been unable to get water through the infrastructure due to lack electricity equipment, Karki said. Minister Dhungel said that the provincial government is planning to operate pumping projects in most of the villages suffering from water shortage.