Abandoned borewells come under scrutiny

To prevent children from falling into abandoned borewells, the State government has reiterated the guidelines that were gazetted in January, 2013, under the Karnataka Ground Water Act, 2011. 

In the wake of the recent incident in Bijapur, where a child fell into an abandoned borewell, the government had issued an order on June 20, making rig owners, land owners and the local authorities accountable for such tragedies. 

Plans are also being made to re-issue circulars to all the deputy commissioners to obtain information from the local authorities on statistics regarding the number of borewells sunk, in use or abandoned. 

S Shankarnarayana, Director, Department of Mines and Geology, said that certain guidelines on safety measures and norms to be followed in case of abandoned or failed borewells were issued to rig owners and land owners through a gazette notification on January 2, 2013. “We have not amended but only reiterated the guidelines that were issued earlier. Now, we will have to make the borewell stake holders accountable in case of any tragedy,” he added.

The guidelines were existing but were not enforced strictly, but now in the light of the recent incident, the department has sought compliance from the local authorities to inspect all the borewells, he said. “We have also sent a circular to the government for re-circulation to all the districts to create greater awareness about safety around borewells,” he added.

Compared to urban areas, more tragedies occur in rural areas, said T Venkataraju, engineer-in-chief, BWSSB. If drilling fails in rural areas, the rig owners remove the pipes and leave the borewell open as they do not receive any payment.

In the City, irrespective of whether the borewell yields water or not, the rig owner gets paid. In cases when the attempted borewell does not yield any water, the rig owners leave all the pipelines in the ground and usually use it as a recharge well for rainwater harvesting.

The State government had incorporated the detailed guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in 2010, to prevent children from accidentally falling into open / abandoned borewells and tubewells. According to the guidelines, abandoned borewells must be refilled to avoid caving, which could lead to further danger.