Illegal Water Tankers Operate Unhindered in City
According to norms, the revenue department’s permission is required for digging borewells and those operating private tankers need to take permission from the groundwater department.
Hyderabad: A network of illegal water tankers is operating unchecked in the city, owing to lax enforcement by officials. The private operators are extracting groundwater through borewells and supplying it to construction sites, hospitals, and industries — often without mandatory permissions.
According to norms, the revenue department’s permission is required for digging borewells and those operating private tankers need to take permission from the groundwater department.
The private tanker operators need to pay a fee to the revenue department for borewells and pay cess to the groundwater department. Subsequently, the groundwater department grants a no-objection certificate (NOC) to operate water tankers.
A dipstick survey by Deccan Chronicle revealed that several entities have been operating water tankers without duly taking permission from the revenue department and the groundwater department to save money.
A lax enforcement of rules and lack of vigilance are allowing illegal private water tank operators to flourish. While there are avenues available for people to report the illegal water tankers, enough publicity was not given.
According to officials, people can report about private water tankers by calling 9281097233 or writing to tsgwrms.helpdesk@gmail.com.
Though the private water tank operators are violating the Telangana Water, Land and Trees Act (WALTA) and groundwater extraction guidelines, the officials of the groundwater department said that they are conducting inspections and monitoring private water tankers regularly. “It’s not that we conduct inspections only when we get complaints. We conduct district wise inspections quite regularly,” said an official.
