BANGALORE: The efforts of Minor Irrigation, Water Resources, Mines and Geology Departments and Central Ground Water Board to curb exploitation of depleting ground water levels are ready to bear fruit with the legal draft getting ready for notification this week.The rules and regulations framed for setting up Karnataka Ground Water Authority have got the approval of Legal Department and will be sent for final notification.Speaking to Express, Water Resources Department Secretary P N Sreenivasachary said, “Rules and regulations for the authority are framed by the Water Resources Department and Department of Mines and Geology. The rules were forwarded to the department for approval in December last. We have drafted it and have included valuable suggestions given to us by the public. The authority will start functioning once the official notification is issued.”The authority will be headed by the Chairman of the Water Resources Department with the Director of Mines and Geology as member-secretary. It will start functioning with some government officials like Chief Engineer of the BWSSB, Chairman of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, some farmer representatives and other nominated members with special knowledge or practical experiences in matters relating to ground water.Additional Director (Ground Water), Department of Mines and Geology, H M Khyum Ali said, “The authority will start functioning from March end or April. A budget provision of `40 lakh has been sought for setting up an office, appointment of working staff, etc.”Out of the 175 taluks, 35 have been declared as ‘over-exploited blocks’ where the ground water has been used over 200 per cent. Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Ramnagar, Kolar, Chikaballapur and some areas of Tumkur are topping the list in this category, as per the census conducted by the Department of Mines and Geology.Once the authority starts functioning, all ground water users in the notified area should register with the authority within 120 days by paying a nominal fee. There are about 3.5 lakh bore wells in and around Bangalore and there are about 9.7 lakh irrigation bore wells in the state.Permission must be taken from the authority to sink bore wells (initially in the areas notified by the authority). Rigs which drill bore wells, should also get registered and violators of the regulations will be penalised by the authority.
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