The Hindu : Groundwater exploitation affects Ambattur residents

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 26, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Groundwater exploitation affects Ambattur residents

By K. Lakshmi

CHENNAI, FEB. 25. Residents of Ambattur municipality and Tiruverkadu town panchayat have been suffering for about five years now, thanks to rampant exploitation of groundwater sources.

While open wells in some areas have gone dry, water has turned brackish in other places due to indiscriminate sinking of borewells. Despite the ban on overextraction of water as per the Groundwater Act, about 50 borewells have been sunk in about 20 places to supply water to corporate houses and hotel chains in the city, residents of Ambattur ICF Colony complain.

At least five bores each have been sunk near the Ambattur and Ayappakkam lakes for water supply to commercial establishments. The other extraction points include Housing Board Colony and Kalaivanar Nagar at Ambattur and Ayanambakkam.

Besides drawing water from private land, water suppliers also exploited resources on poramboke land, says S. Prasad of Ayanambakkam.

The chairman of the Villivakkam Panchayat Union, A.M. Duraivelu, said: "About 250 lorries ply on the roads of Ambattur daily to supply water to commercial institutions in the city. With about 1,000 trips per day and every lorry carrying 12, 000 litres per trip, we are worried about the depletion of groundwater in the region."

Roads in the area turned bad following heavy traffic on the stretch. Peter Joseph, secretary of the Dinesh Nagar Residents' Welfare Association (under Tiruverkadu Town Panchayat limits), said many roads, including Koladi Road connecting Ambattur and Poonamallee High Road, were damaged because of constant lorry movement.

R. Kannan, a resident of the Housing Board Colony, said only 10 lorries of the Ambattur Municipality were drawing water from the lakes. There were private tankers that also drew water without approval. A major problem was in identifying pumps used for commercial supply of water. Despite several representations, officials hade not taken action against offenders.

Several residents complained that more borewells were sunk during the past two days. Reacting to residents' charges, the Ambattur tahsildar, M. Bhaskaran, assured that stringent action would be taken against the offenders. He appealed to residents to alert officials about the illegal extraction of water.

About 300 people, including the Ayappakkam Panchayat president, A.V. Manoharan, and some councillors, participated in a procession today protesting the overdrawal of water. The procession, which began on Ayappakkam Tamil Nadu Housing Board Main Road, culminated at the Ambattur taluk office, blocking traffic on Madras Tiruvallur High Road for about half-an hour. They represented their grievances to the tahsildar.

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