MUMBAI: First time for Mumbai, the state government has issued a gazette notification under Maharashtra ground Water Act 2009 to appoint three district authorities--one for city, and two for suburban, to check the misuse of groundwater by tanker and well owners and take penal action.
These officers will have powers to take action against those indulging in illegal extraction and commercial exploitation of groundwater without proper permissions from the groundwater and civic authorities. It may be mentioned here that Mumbai police has registered probably India's first and biggest groundwater theft case worth over Rs 80 crore.
The Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA) and crusader against illegal use of groundwater Sureshkumar Dhoka had insisted on such an appointment to control and stop illegal commercial trade groundwater that runs into thousands of crore in Mumbai region. According to Dhoka, with these appointments the MWRRA will be able to drive groundwater conservation policies very effectively.
The Central groundwater authority (CGWA) has already appointed collectors as authorised officers who are still awaited to take actions under the Environment Protection Act 1986, said Dhoka. While one of the officials appointed by state will monitor groundwater use in Mumbai island city, the other two for eastern and western suburbs will look after Kurla and Borivali-Andheri regions respectively.
City collector on the directives of CGWA had appointed his additional collector to take lawful actions against well and tanker owners indulging in illegal practises and also recover from them the environmental damage compensation. The decision to act locally upon the directives of CGWA had come in after a prolonged battle waged by Dhoka against illegal groundwater use.
