Schools to raise awareness against open borewells

Door to door survey on number of borewells to be conducted

District administration will take out rallies in all government and aided schools of the district on August 16, raising awareness to close all open borewells in the district.

The decision was taken at a district level committee meeting, formed by the government to check the menace of open borewells, following the recent incident at Bagalkot, in which six year old Thimmappa, breathed his last, after falling to an open borewell at Soolikeri in Bagalkot district.

P A Gopal, Zilla Panchayat CEO and vice-chairman of the committee, said that instructions were also sent to assistant commissioners and tahsildars to conduct an house to house survey of borewells in the district, and to take measures to close defunct and open borewells.

He said that except for Mysore taluk, officials of all grama panchayats and, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj department, had submitted a report stating that no borewells, dug for drinking water purposes has been kept open.

“However, there is a big task ahead of us, as few individuals have dug borewells in agricultural lands. We will have to finalise the number of such borewells and ensure that they are closed,” he said. Concerned assistant commissioners and tahsildars will organise surveys in agricultural lands.

He said that if any open borewells are found in private or agricultural land, such borewells will be plugged, with the land owner made to pay the cost of plugging them. He said that all agencies, which are involved in digging borewells in the district, have also been instructed to register with the district administration.

Deadline

A circular by the State government issued on August 6, has set a deadline for district administrations to close all defunct borewells by August 31. It has also set some regulations for digging borewells, such as regulating the number of borewells to be dug in regions where underground depletion has been maximum.