Hyderabad: Though the Central Groundwater Board has identified Hyderabad as one of the top 64 places where groundwater is over exploited, the state government has not yet taken any constructive action. With temperatures rising and the groundwater table falling, illegal drilling of borewells is going unchecked in different parts of the city.

This continues despite complaints lodged by locals with the revenue department. While locals decry the commercial pumping of water resulting in drying up of domestic borewells, authorities fail to stick to norms before issuing permissions. Residents of Bapunagar in Chintal (Quthubullapur mandal) are fed up with the officials’ inaction in spite of complaining against a commercial water plant in their colony.

“In the last one year, more than 20 domestic borewells in our colony, which were 200-400 feet deep, have gone dry. Most of us have to go for re-boring or sink a new borewell by spending nearly Rs 3 lakh each. On the other hand some people have established water plants and are pumping out water and selling it using tankers,” said M. Praveen, a member of the Bapunagar Welfare Association.



Thakur Rajkumar Singh, president of Human Rights and Consumers Protection Cell, said, “The cases are taken up by the officials only when we lodge complaints. Is it not the job of the concerned officials to go around their areas? Otherwise, how is it possible for borewells to come up near Ameenpur Lake, Patancheru, Gangaram Cheruvu near Aparna Venture, Devunu Kunta in Gopannapally village on the city’s outskirt and Saroornagar Lake?”

Though revenue officials have stopped issuing drilling permits, over 150 illegal borewells have come up in Hitec City and adjoining areas in the last six months.
Residential areas falling within Serilingampally mandal, Madhapur, Kondapur, Gachibowli, Miyapur and so on are filled with illegal borewells. Despite being drilled on government land, officials have not taken any action. This has resulted in rapid depletion of groundwater leading to the drying up of domestic borewells. These groups supply water to industries, mineral water plants and also apartments at exorbitant rates.

“We have stopped issuing permissions for drilling borewells. Those operating them are doing so by breaking the law,” an official working at the Serilingampally revenue office said.