Getting an approval for a borewell will be difficult in several areas in and around Bengaluru now as Karnataka government has decided to reduce the usage of borewells to save groundwater.
Times of India reports that the new rule suggests that the property owner and borewell operators have to separately get permission from a committee.
The state had declared drought in 27 out of 30 districts in September following which new borewells in 45 of 175 taluks were banned.
The new rule would be implemented in Bengaluru north, east and south, Devanahalli, Doddaballapur, Hoskote, Nelamangala and Anekal – especially the areas that have seen a high real-estate growth.
After the government’s 2011 and 2013 orders failed to make any impact, it had to bring a new rule for borewell approvals.
TOI quoted minor irrigation minister Shivaraj Tangadgi saying, “Now, applications for new borewells have to be approved by a committee com prising water board, mines and geology officials. The district committees will be headed by deputy commissioners, and approvals are subject to meeting guide lines. Permission will not be given to dig over 500 ft for a borewell. In some places, heavy machines have gone to a depth of up to 1,000ft.”
The new rule also demands all borewell and tubewell operators to register with the water board and obtain permission to sink borewells. “They cannot drill a borewell merely on the permission granted to the land owner. This is to check borewell operators coming in from outside the state,” Tangadgi added.
A senior official in Bengaluru Water and Sewerage Supply Board (BWSSB) alleged that there are a plethora of illegal wells found by the revenue department in the city. Most of them are controlled by water mafia, which supplies packaged water to industries and households with huge profit.
This is an aggregation of Times of India report.