The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Consumer forum to move court against borewells project

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 02, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Consumer forum to move court against borewells project

By Our Special Correspondent

CUDDALORE, MAY 1. The government is going ahead with sinking of deep borewells in the Panruti-Neyveli region for water supply to Chennai, in spite of the Public Works department's caution that it has been classified a "semi-critical area."

Ground water exploitation in the area has touched 70-90 per cent. If all proposed 45 giant borewells become operational, there is the threat of its turning into either a "critical area" with 90-100 per cent exploitation or an "overexploited area" where water extraction will be more than 100 per cent.

The assessment on water exploitation was done under the methodology of the Groundwater Estimation Committee (GEC)— 1997 and the Central Ground Water Board has accepted the report. (Under the methodology adopted by the GEC in 1984, the areas were classified grey and dark blocks).

The assessment has identified 10 places in Cuddalore district, including Panruti, Kurinjipadi, Vriddhachalam and Kattumannarkoil, as semi-critical areas (the belt in which most of the borewells are now being sunk).

To avoid further deterioration, it has been suggested that priority be accorded to implementation of rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge schemes in these areas. But the sinking of borewells is going on in full swing.

While villagers of Vadakuthu and neighbouring places staged road roko, the Federation of Consumer Organisations— Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry (FEDCOT) has decided to move court to restrain the government from going ahead with the project.

Its general secretary, M. Nizamudeen, told The Hindu that no State-level ground water authority had been constituted as mandated under Section 7 of the Tamil Nadu Ground Water (Development and Management) Act, 2003. The lapse emboldened private and public agencies to tap ground water indiscriminately, he alleged.

From late 1960s, successive governments in Tamil Nadu had drafted schemes to bring water from the Veeranam tank to Chennai and invested crores, knowing full well that it received water only during monsoon, he said.

The proposed large-scale ground water extraction would cause further receding of the water table at Panruti, Vadakuthu, Vriddhachalam and Chidambaram. Moreover, it would lead to salinity ingress, which was practically irreversible, and also impact on seismicity, the FEDCOT said.

To protect ground water sources, the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development had stopped re-financing of loans in these areas for sinking borewells and fixing electrified motors for irrigation.

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