Alarming fall in Cantonment groundwater levels

Some are taking permission to dig borewells in open plots under the guise of growing plants and selling water to tankers and making a quick buck

​Hyderabad: The Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) officials during an inspection in SP Colony near Trimulgherry recently found two individual houseowners digging borewells. They were fined Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively.

Locals, however, have complained that several cases go unnoticed. Admitting the rising in number of illegal connections, Savan Kumar, Assistant Engineer of the Water and Street Light Department, said “In many cases, people start digging borewells on a Sunday and due to staff crunch it is difficult to keep an eye on all the eight wards.”

Every second day, the SCB receives complaints from people about digging of illegal borewells. As per the rules, borewell digging is not permitted in the evenings.

The distance between borewells should be 90 metres but is not being followed. Thanks to the mushrooming of apartments, there is no way we can stop people in spite of the rule, rued an inspector. Last year, the SCB gave permission for 200 new borewells and the applications piled up this year as well.

The MRO gives permission for digging 300 feet deep, but in almost all cases people dig up to 600-700 feet dep. In recent years, a new trend is noticed; people take permissions and use the water to supply to water tankers.

Savan Kumar said, “Last week a person took permission to dig a borewell in an open plot to grow plants, but when we inspected there were no plants and we seized the borewell.”

The groundwater levels have dipped to such an extent that there is no trace of water till 700 feet in several areas. SCB officials said that they dig up to 800 feet for public borewells, but now individual parties too are doing the same.

There are 700 public borewells and close to a lakh private and commercial borewells in the cantonment. In several other States, permissions for new borewells have been restricted during summer, but SCB continues to give permissions. In several cases, individual owners get permission from MRO for borewells in open plots without a building permission.