KOZHIKODE: Kasargod district administration has brought in stringent measures to check fast depleting water tables. People within the Kasargod municipal and Chengala, Muliyar, Karadka, Delampady, Chemnad, Madhur, Kuttikol, Bedadka and Mogral Puthur grama panchayat limits have to obtain prior permission from groundwater department to dig borewells. “No digging of open wells and ponds other than for domestic purpose is allowed in these areas. Also, commercial establishments like mineral water and ice plants, etc. exploiting groundwater were given license in only two (Neeleswaram and Parappa) of the six block panchayats in the district,” said district collector K. Jeevan Babu.
Data with the department show 92 per cent of the available groundwater in Kasargod block has been used up. The percentage of consumption in other blocks are Karadka-76.3 per cent, Manjeswaram-74per cent , Kanhangad-75.47 per cent, Neeleswaram-61.6 per cent and Parappa- 56.49 per cent. Kasargod comes under critical, Kanhangad, Manjeswaram and Karadka in the semi-critical list while Neeleswaram and Parappa are on the safe list.
“Kasargod has the highest borewell density in the state, with close to 4,000 government-dug borewells. Private borewells would be more than that,” says groundwater department district officer P. Seetharam Bhat, lamenting at people digging borewells not taking permission from the grama panchayat concerned. “The violation of panchayat building rules is rampant. The Kerala Ground Water (Control and Regulation) Act does not allow borewells within a 30-metre radius of a public water source. That’s also blatantly violated,” he said.
