HYDERABAD: The Secunderabad Cantonment Board has decided to sanction two borewells each for its eight wards to meet the drinking water requirements during the ensuing summer.
At its meeting held on Thursday, ward members apprehended possible water shortage in the near future and set an agenda for digging two borewells in each ward. Board’s chief executive officer SVR Chandrasekhar said the agenda was passed and all borewells would be dug within a month and made ready for use.
On the other hand, there are thousands of unauthorised borewells which were dug in the Cantonment area in the past years. When contacted, J.Ramakrishna, vice-president of SCB, said, “We are identifying the illegal borewells in all wards and will take necessary action.” According to him, several complaints about illegal borewells have been received and ward members were regularly checking if there were illegal borewells in their wards
. “If any resident is found guilty, huge penalties will be imposed. One should take permission from the MRO and the SCB before digging a borewell for own use. We are collecting Rs 2,000 per borewell and giving permission for digging borewells. Moreover, groundwater levels have dipped in areas like Bolarum, Marredpally and Trimulgherry,” he said.
Bhagyasri, member from Ward-7, said, “We will identify all illegal borewells in our wards and seal them.”
Meanwhile, some Congress workers staged a protest near the SCB office. According to Marredpally police sub-inspector K.Laxminararsaiah, the demonstrators, holding placards and shouting slogans, gathered near the SCB office in the morning. “We took them into custody and shifted them to the Marredpally station. They were booked under Section 341, 188rw/149 of IPC for protesting at the board meeting,” he said.