The Hindu : Karnataka News : Residents panic over uranium exploration

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Saturday, Jul 18, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Residents panic over uranium exploration

T.V. Sivanandan

People in Gogi have stopped drinking water from borewells fearing it has become unsafe

Uranium Corporation of India, Atomic Mineral Directorate for Exploration have started work
‘Water pumped out of well is chemically treated for use at project site’

Gogi (Gulbarga district): The work that has begun to start full-scale exploration of uranium on the outskirts of Gogi village and its surrounding areas in Shahapur taluk in Gulbarga district has sent panic waves among the residents of Gogi. Eighteen thousand residents of Gogi fear the impact the exploration of uranium would have on their health.

The district administration has issued notices to acquire 177 acres of land in and around Gogi village which would be handed over to the Uranium Corporation of India Limited and Atomic Mineral Directorate for Exploration and Research for carrying out exploration of uranium and related activities.

Panic-stricken residents have stopped drinking water from borewells in the village expressing apprehensions that it contained “harmful chemicals”. Some of them said they have developed joint pains and skin disorders.

The president of the Bhoomi Thayi Horata Samiti and general secretary of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha Basavareddy Karaddi, who is spearheading the agitation of the residents of Gogi demanding potable drinking water, told The Hindu here that after the digging of a well and installing of a shaft by Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCI) on the outskirts of Gogi, the groundwater levels in the borewells in the village had gone down steeply and the quality of water was also affected.

Fluoride content

Sharanamma Malipatil, a mother of four children, said that due to the presence of high fluoride content in water fetched from the borewells, the people have stopped using it for drinking and “we walk two to three km to fetch drinking water from neighbouring villages where potable drinking water is available”.

Shantappa Reddy, a landlord whose family is living in the village for a long time, said drinking water supplied from borewells contained high content of fluoride and in 1998 the Government decided to take up a Multi Village Drinking Water Project under the Rajiv Gandhi Technology Mission at a cost of Rs. 3 crore.

But the project could not be inaugurated despite the completion of most of the work due to the delay in providing express line by Gescom to ensure 24-hour uninterrupted power supply to the project.

The former Minister Sharanabasappa Dharshanapur, MLA who represents Gogi which is part of the Shahapur Assembly Constituency, said the problem of the people of Gogi would be solved once the Multi Village Drinking Water Project was inaugurated. As per the demand of the people, now the water would be drawn from Upper Krishna Project canals. Original proposal was to draw water through an intake well from the lower tank in the outskirts of the Gogi village.

Mr. Karaddi said, according to information available with them, UCI authorities had dug a 120-metre deep well with width of five metre. They were continuously pumping out water from the well using two 25 HP pumps. “Continuous pumping out of water from the well has resulted in the steep fall in the groundwater level in the existing borewells in the Gogi village,” he said.

The residents of the Gogi village have set a deadline of eight days for the district administration to provide drinking water to the village through tankers untill the Multi Village Drinking Water Scheme was completed and potable drinking water free of any fluoride and other harmful chemicals and minerals was supplied.

Official version

The officials at the camp site where UCI has dug the well were tight lipped about uranium extraction. However, they said the water that was being pumped out was being chemically treated and recycled for use at the project site and it was not being let out for the use of the villager residents or to any agriculture fields.

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