Panaji: From 2022 to date, the state water resources department (WRD) has identified 224 illegal borewells in Goa. A majority of 49 cases of these are in Chimbel and the matter is presently being heard by the high court. The number of illegal borewells during the 2022-25 period has almost doubled from 122 registered during 2020 to 2024.All violators have been issued a show cause notice and the electricity department has been directed to disconnect their power supply, the WRD minister Subhash Shirodkar said in a reply tabled in the recently concluded assembly session.In many cases, either a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh has been imposed or the show cause is in the process of being heard.Of the 224, in 39 cases the illegal borewell has been sealed. And in eight of the cases, the borewells have been regularised by the department after following the required procedure.There are 554 legal borewells in the state, registered with the WRD, Shirodkar said in his reply. These borewells have been sunk in for industrial, construction, agricultural, and horticultural use, besides some to cater to multidwelling units.Though Goa has been catergorised as ‘safe’ with 21.4% groundwater extraction, the latest groundwater assessment for the state by the WRD last year showed that the level of extraction from 2011 to 2023 had increased by 65% over the 12-year period.In Bardez and Mormugao talukas, the extent of groundwater extraction was the highest as against the availability of the resource.The report titled ‘Dynamic Groundwater Resources of Goa, 2023’ stated, “A comparison of groundwater extraction since 2011 to 2023 indicates that extraction/draft has increased from 4,114 ham (hectare-metre) in 2011 to 6,775 ham in 2023 — an increase of about 65% in the last 12 years. This is probably due to an increase in the number of abstraction structures (manmade or natural systems like borewells used to extract groundwater) in the last decade or so.”
