Hyderabad: Anyone operating a borewell needs to secure a drilling permission from the mandal revenue officer (MRO). There is no certification done on the quality of water supplied.
The Water, Land and Trees Act (Walta) allows drilling of 6-inch borewells in agricultural land and restricts it to 4.5 inches in the city.
The groundwater department, which issues licences to the rig owners, does not inspect whether bigger borewells are dug in the urban areas.
The Act says that a 4.5-inch borewell is permitted per application for a house or apartment complex by the mandal revenue officer.
The MRO after issuing the permission needs to verify through the village revenue officer whether the conditions have been met.
However, no verification is done, leading to 6-inch borewells being dug and that too beyond 500 feet depth. In many areas, permissions are obtained for a single borewell and more than one are drilled.
Apartment complexes drill up to 12 six-inch borewells and ‘steal’ groundwater with a single permission letter. No MRO or VRO ever checks the depth or the number of borewells in such apartment complexes.
Dr G.V. Rao, who works to curb illegal drilling for water, said, “The MROs ignore the order and allow illegal drilling of borewells during the dry months though it is not allowed until the onset of monsoon. Further some enterprising residents utilise the six-inch borewells to commercialise water. Walta does not allow commercialisation of borewell water in residential areas.”
