Panaji: Acting on the directions of the Bombay high court, the WRD sealed unauthorised borewells at Chimbel on Thursday in the presence of police and officials of the PWD and local panchayat. The move upset the locals, particularly those from the Dharwadkar colony, who protested and attempted to stop govt officials from sealing the borewells.According to the court order, there are 70 illegal borewells in the area. Officials said that they were drilled 20-25 years ago.“When something is illegal, people should realise that either today or tomorrow, action will come. There is no question of issuing a notice. Do we issue a notice to a thief that we are coming to detain him? It is an illegal activity. When the court has given instructions, we have to close the borewells,” said water resources minister Subhash Shirodkar.Residents claimed they were not informed about the sealing and were given no opportunity to have their say in the matter. They refuted claims that the borewells were being illegally used for supplying water through tankers.“Govt has lied that there are 70 borewells here. They said we are selling water. We don’t have water to drink; will we sell our water?” said an angry local man. He said tankers are unable to climb the steep slope to the colony.Locals claimed that though they applied for piped water connections, the PWD has said that due to the gradient of the hill, water cannot be pumped up to the 45-odd homes at Dharwadkar colony. They also questioned the need for the WRD officials to demolish the masonry structures erected around the borewells, and said that the order called only for the borewells to be sealed.“We have already sealed four to five borewells. These were being concealed under wooden logs to evade detection,” said Shirodkar.Congress functionary Amit Palekar, along with residents of Dharwadkar colony, met the junior engineer of the drinking water department at Tonca, and demanded restoration of water supply to the colony immediately basis. “The colony was not served notice. This (sealing) was done without hearing their side and without following the principle of natural justice. We will approach the HC and ask for a sympathetic view on this matter,” he said.
