11 illegal bore wells sealed in Dwarka

As many as 11 illegal bore wells — drawing water enough to fill 300 tankers per day — were sealed in the Dwarka-Pochanpur area in southwest Delhi on Wednesday. Headed south

As many as 11 illegal bore wells — drawing water enough to fill 300 tankers per day — were sealed in the Dwarka-Pochanpur area in southwest Delhi on Wednesday.

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The crackdown against the water tanker mafia by the Dwarka tehsildar was prompted by a complaint by residents of Dwarka sector 23, 24, Pochanpur and Dhulsiras. Their complaint had drawn attention towards more than 20 bore wells in the area hidden in shrubs.

Tehsildar Satish Rawat, with his team, had earlier last week inspected the area and identified illegally run bore wells to be sealed. The team had on March 8 seized generator sets and other materials at seven bore wells.

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Southwest district, including Dwarka and surrounding villages, and the south district of the national capital are notified areas in terms of precarious ground water situation since year 2000. No bore well is allowed to be dug without due permission from the government.

Diwan Singh, an activist of Natural Heritage First and a resident of the area, welcomed the “prompt response from the administration in stopping illegal extraction of groundwater”.

“We hope they follow up with more action… the police and administration will also take care,” Singh said.

“There is a serious mismatch between the demand and availability of water. We are eating our own future by depleting our ground water reserves beyond sustainable limits,” Naveen Sehrawat from Pochanpur said.

Assured Rawat, “More action for identifying and sealing such bore wells would be taken as and when we get police force.”