Uncapped borewells are death traps, especially for young, unsuspecting children playing in the open. Such tragedies are common across India, with over 40 kids falling into borewells between 2009 and 2019 and 70 percent of rescue operations failing. Rising dependence on water, directly linked to increased population and construction activity and worsened by negligence, are the reasons for this tragic trend.
India is estimated to have 2.70 crore borewells, mostly over 100 feet deep and just about a foot in diameter. When the borewell water dries up, the motors and casing pipe are removed, but the borewell is not adequately covered or sealed. Accidents continue to occur despite the Supreme Court’s February 2010 revised guidelines to make them safe.
On Monday, the Karnataka Assembly passed the Karnataka Groundwater (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) (Amendment) Bill, proposing stringent measures to prevent children from falling into uncapped, newly drilled borewells. The Bill proposes that drilling and implementing agencies face a one-year jail and a Rs 25,000 fine if guilty of ineffectively closing the lid of newly drilled borewells. It mandates owners intimate local authorities at least a fortnight before drilling borewells and close the borewell lids soon after drilling steel caps tightened with nuts and bolts. It asks local authorities to ascertain the proper closure of the borewells within 24 hours with photographic evidence. Defunct borewells are to be closed with soil, slush and thorns and fenced with signboards to alert people about the presence of drilled borewells. A majority of the victims are children of construction workers and villagers who play while their parents are at work. Most cases occur in the rural and semi-urban areas.
While the Bill passed in the assembly has brought in strict mandates, there are intense demands for making it more stringent to deter the drilling contractors from being negligent once the work is completed by leaving the borewells uncapped or half-capped. A lack of sensitivity allows negligence, leading to the loss of innocent lives. The lucky few survivors can barely be called “lucky”, having to live with an inexplicable trauma. Local authorities, down to the taluk levels, must strictly prevent borewell deaths, making spaces safe for all, especially children. There’s no scope for regret over lives nipped in the bud due to negligence.