notice (indicative photo)
– Photo: Amar Ujala
Expansion
Notices have been issued by the Ground Water Department to 104 units exploiting ground water in Hathras district. Surprisingly, even after the issue of the notice, only 25 units of the district have so far taken No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Ground Water Department. Six development blocks of the district are in overexploited category. Although many efforts are being made by the administration to increase the ground water level, but these efforts are proving to be insufficient.
In the last 10 years, the ground water level is continuously falling in the district. In many areas, a decline in ground water level has been recorded by more than six metres. To deal with this situation, the Ground Water Department has now started cracking down on the firms and institutions that overexploit ground water under the Ground Water Act.
About 300 firms and institutions are exploiting ground water in the district, but only 25 of these have taken the No Objection Certificate (NOC). However, all efforts are being made by the government to save the falling ground water level. The water level has fallen by 6.67 meters in block Sahpau and 5.1 meters in Sadabad in the district. In Hathras city too, the ground water level has dropped by 3.4 meters in the last 10 years. Because of this, the boring of tube wells have also started getting deeper.
According to the report of the Pollution Control Board, instructions have been issued several times by the Ground Water Department to the organizations overexploiting ground water, but their operators are not interested in taking NOC.
To save the falling water level, instructions have been issued to install water harvesting systems in government offices. All the industrial units which are using water commercially, it is mandatory for all of them to take no objection certificate under the Ground Water Act. Notices have been issued to 140 firms regarding this. Namrata Jaiswal, Nodal Officer Ground Water Conservation