HYDERABAD: In yet another incident of social-media empower citizens to take charge of civic issues, many Hyderabadis are taking to Twitter to report illegal borewells being dug in their surroundings. Calling out the borewell operators who are taking advantage of authorities distracted by the ongoing election season in the State, these netizens are even attracting police action accordingly.
Residents of Rajendra Nagar, Serilingampally, Kukatpally, and Shamshabad recently took to Twitter to report the open-secret of borewell digging in their areas. It was understood that the Cyberabad police have been going through the tweets, collecting details, and sending their patrol teams to areas mentioned. The local residents have also tweeted the issue to GHMC officials and TRS working president KT Rama Rao.
With back-to-back elections -- first Assembly, then Panchayat and now Lok Sabha -- borewell operators are in for a treat. Despite a strict ban on digging borewells, operators have been taking a free hand in digging new ones every now and then. And there is nobody to stop them with the district authorities caught up with election processes.
For instance, the Ranga Reddy revenue jurisdiction has been witnessing a significant hike in number of borewell connections. As the officials have been busy with poll duties, people consider themselves free to dig the ground.
According to revenue authorities, commercialised usage of borewells has been prohibited, as it was noticed that many were taking advantage of this to make easy money. And yet, the illegal water trade continues unabated as private water tankers have started utilising the diversion caused by election processes. Those who own private water tankers have procured vacant lands on lease for digging borewells and escalating their water supply business during summer.
Ranga Reddy joint collector S Harish, admitted to receiving complaints on illegal digging of borewells and assured strict action against all those guilty.