Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI; The High Court of Bombay at Goa directed the State government to seal all the illegal bore wells and soak pits along the Calangute-Candolim beach belt, observing it as a major environmental threat in CRZ areas.
The Court directed the Tourism department to take immediate action and asked local police to provide the required assistance. The Court observed that the facilities are a serious environmental threat in the eco-sensitive CRZ areas.
The Court has further asked the tourism department to issue show-cause notices to all such Shack operators who have put up such illegal bore wells and soak pits by February 17 and grant one weak time to explain.
Court said that the failure of Shack operators to respond should result in revoking their licenses. The department is directed to file a status report on February 22.
In order to curb the illegal extraction and regulate the extraction of water, Water Resources Department set up the Goa Groundwater Regulation Act of 2002.
The Act required all wells to be registered and newly dug wells to have requisite permissions from the department and other civic authorities. Commercial wells were required to pay a fee.
In May 2019, they filed a public interest litigation in the Bombay High Court, claiming that two borewells had been illegally drilled, usurping all the groundwater, and creating an artificial drought in their ward. On September 11, the same year, the judge ordered the two illegal borewells to be sealed.
