Locals frantic on illegal borewells

Chennai: With summer temperatures soaring and the demand for drinking water shooting up, the illegal borewell business is back in action and residents of Tiruvallur district are at the receiving end. Triggered by the drinking water shortage and the depleting ground water tables, residents of Mathur, Madhavaram and Uthukottai took out protests in front of Valluvarkottam and at the Uthukottai taluk office, condemning state government and district collector E Sundaravalli for turning a blind eye towards the thriving illegal business in water starved Chennai.

Monday witnessed protests by local residents who raised slogans with their families, insisting on the arrest of the mafia targeting ground water and river sand. “Residents of Mathur and Madhavaram have been facing water shortage since 2013. We never saw such a scenario earlier. Till 2010, ground water was available at 15 to 20 feet, but now has receded to 200 feet. Borewells are failing as the water mafia, in connivance with vested interests, loot water through borewells,” rued 68-year-old M P Palani of Mathur. Despite being a former AIADMK ward secretary I am unable to curtail this water loot by the mafia as officers are hand in glove with them. Despite complaints and protests there is no respite or any direction from the district collector to prevent the illegal water business, he added.      

In a similar event, residents of Uthukottai in Tiruvallur thronged the Utthukottai taluk office and raised slogans against sand mining and depleting groundwater resources.