MADURAI : Observing that meeting drinking water requirements is more important than meeting irrigation needs, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently dismissed a batch of petitions filed challenging the implementation of a new drinking water borewell project in Kollidam river, at Keelanbil village in Tiruchy.
A bench comprising justices GR Swaminathan and B Pugalendhi passed the order after the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) authorities clarified that the project requires extraction of only subsurface water and hence would not affect the ground water table of the village.
"The consumers of water fall under various categories. Drinking water needs would rank first, followed by agriculture and industrial needs. The scheme in question is aimed at meeting drinking water requirements. The petitioners appear to plead for the cause of agriculturists. Of course, they are equally important. But their needs will have to take a back seat," the judges observed.
The petitioners alleged that the project was previously going to be executed at Edayathumangalam and was arbitrarily changed to Keelanbil, after the locals protested against the same. The additional advocate general submitted a report of a hydraulic study conducted by TWAD board explaining the reason for shifting the location, along with a counter affidavit.
"The ground water level statistics taken in the region in the last five years, during January and May, have been out. Locations that can be tapped for water are classified in four categories, namely, safe, semi-critical, critical, and over-exploited. Keelanbil falls under the safe category," the judges noted from the counter affidavit.
When technical experts have arrived at certain conclusions, the court cannot substitute its views with their findings, the bench opined and dismissed the petitions. They, however, added that if the ground water table in Keelanbil village is affected by the project in future, villagers can always move the court again.
According to the petitioners, the Kollidam river provides water for agricultural purposes in Anbil and 20 other villages in Tiruchy district. It also serves as the drinking water source for people in the southern and northern districts of Tamil Nadu. But the river has been plagued with water scarcity due to illegal mining for the last 25 years, the petitioners alleged.
The villagers of Anbil have been requesting for a check dam in Kollidam for the last seven years, but the state government is instead trying to set up a new borewell in the area, they added.
When the locals protested, the petitioners claimed, they were faced with FIRs and arrests. Notably, the court had earlier ordered an interim injunction restraining the authorities from continuing with the project.