Unauthorised Borewells Take Water out of Hyderabad
When asked about the claims made by rig operators and residents, K. Laxma, director of the groundwater department dismissed them as baseless.
Hyderabad: Lack of avenues for regular recharge of underground water, especially lack of tanks and concretisation of roads, and unauthorised drawal of underground water through illegal borewells have pushed 12 mandals of Hyderabad into the 'overexploited' category, according to the Hyderabad District Groundwater Department (HDGD).
Three mandals were declared 'critical', and one 'semi-critical', according to the HDGD’s groundwater resource estimate for the year 2023–2024.
Property owners across Hyderabad drill borewells without permission, often facilitated by rig operators. A few rig operators revealed the inner workings of the system: “When officials from the groundwater department come for a survey, they don’t do their job properly. There’s money involved. If it’s unauthorised, the revenue department officers take bribes. Even local journalists and political leaders take money. If we agree to the bribe, fine — but if we don’t agree to the amount they quote, a complaint is lodged with the department,” they alleged.
Residents of Tukaram Gate, Lalapet, and Shantinagar corroborated these claims of corruption and stated that the actual cost of drilling a borewell is around Rs 50,000 to Rs 70,000. However, the cost increases by an additional Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 due to the bribes paid to officials, leaders, and police.
When asked about the claims made by rig operators and residents, K. Laxma, director of the groundwater department dismissed them as baseless.
He, however, acknowledged that every mandal in Hyderabad has unauthorised borewells and that there is no proper mechanism to effectively track or shut them down. “It is only through complaints from residents, local journalists, or leaders that we get the information about unauthorised borewells. The department does not have a dedicated team of officers to identify unauthorised borewells,” said Deepa Reddy, an officer from the groundwater department.
On average, depending on the season, the tahsildar office receives 15 to 20 complaints regarding unauthorised borewells. “Taking action on all of them is difficult,” said an officer from a tahsildar office. Furthermore, despite the provision for online borewell permissions, he said several mandals continue to issue permits manually, citing technical delays in the online system.
Moreover, the district groundwater department does not have consolidated data on the number of borewell applications received, approved, or rejected in Hyderabad district — this information must be obtained from individual mandals. Within the mandals, the data is not publicly available on any official website.