Groundwater may be taxed, Bill in cabinet

[Ajay Singhal]

 

Draft For Vigil On Extraction

Neha Lalchandani TNN

New Delhi: After a delay of some years, the controversial groundwater Bill is finally ready to be presented to the Delhi cabinet. Government sources say the draft is likely to be tabled in the monsoon session of the Delhi assembly and, if passed, will make groundwater a chargeable asset in the capital.
The cess on extraction will be decided at a later stage
when the final points of the Bill will be prepared before it is turned into law.
The draft Bill asks for mandatory registration of all tubewells in the city, authorized and illegal. Sources said that in unauthorized colonies, where a large part of the population depends on illegal sources of water in the absence of a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) supply, borewells will be registered and a decision will be taken later on whether to regularize them for a fee. “The plan is to finally close down tubewells in those areas where the utility is able to supply water. This has already happened in some areas in southwest Delhi like Vasant Vihar,” said aDJB official.
Once registered, the yield and output of each tubewell will also regularly be measured to keep a check on illegal extraction. For several years, South and Southwest districts were notified where no groundwater extraction was permitted. However, both regions continued to record the sharpest dip in groundwater levels over the years.
If made into a law, the Bill will also hopefully do away with the tanker menace. All tankers will be registered and their movements tracked to ensure that only authorized tankers are able to extract water. The city is grappling with massive unauthorized extraction of water by private parties which finally sell the water for exorbitant sums.
The fifth major clause makes it mandatory to permit boring or reboring of tubewells only for public or institutional use. Officials said this was already in practice with Delhi issuing permits under the Environment Protection Act. “Extraction is being regulated by the district commissioner of each of the nine zones since the beginning of 2009. Delhi Jal Board reviews each application that comes in and recommends cases under domestic and industrial areas to a committee headed by the DC,” said an official.
Inadequate piped supply and a decadal population growth rate of 47% has seen the city’s groundwater levels plummet, with many wells drying in critical areas of south and southwest Delhi.