Noida: Four housing societies penalised for groundwater exploitation

The District Magistrate has directed officials of the Ground Water Department to impose a fine of Rs 2 lakh on illegal plant operators and lodged an FIR against Mayfair Residency in Tech Zone 4 area and a fine of Rs 5 lakh over illegal groundwater exploitation in Sikka Kamna Greens in Noida Sector 143, the statement said.

The Gautam Buddh Nagar administration has imposed penalties to the tune of Rs 23 lakh on entities, including four group housing societies, for illegal groundwater extraction, officials said. They said the administration also ordered the registration of an FIR against one society in Greater Noida (West) over groundwater exploitation. The information was shared during a review meeting of the District Ground Water Management Committee held under the chairmanship of District Magistrate Manish Kumar Verma on Tuesday. During the meeting, the DM instructed officials to take action and impose fines against those exploiting groundwater, according to an official statement. ''The District Magistrate has directed officials of the Ground Water Department to impose a fine of Rs 2 lakh on illegal plant operators and lodged an FIR against Mayfair Residency in Tech Zone 4 area and a fine of Rs 5 lakh over illegal groundwater exploitation in Sikka Kamna Greens in Noida Sector 143,'' the statement said. ''Instructions have been given to impose a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on Futec and Garden Galleria housing societies of Sector 75 in Noida,'' the statement added. The district magistrate also told officials to organise awareness seminars in the district for groundwater conservation.

Ground Water Officer Ankit Rai informed Verma that 52 applications were received on Monday on the department's portal for groundwater extraction, in respect of which, the District Ground Water Management Committee will approve the applications after receiving the information from the local authorities.

Of these, 13 applications were rejected while it was decided to forward nine applications to the state authority for further proceedings, Rai informed the administration, according to the statement. With the aim of ensuring maximum conservation of groundwater in the district, the DM directed the district-level task force to ensure groundwater conservation by industrial, infrastructure, commercial and collective consumers in relation to the no-objection certificates issued so far for groundwater purposes in the district. Also, the condition of water recharge structures in residence societies, apartments, government buildings, offices etc should also be thoroughly reviewed, the DM told the officials concerned. He also instructed the Geology Department officials that in order to promote groundwater conservation further, big industrial units should also be encouraged to recharge and renovate the ponds, according to the statement.