NMC seeks info from 108 commercial institutions about daily water usage
   Date :24-Jan-2023

NMC 
 
 
 
Staff Reporter
As per the instructions of Groundwater Survey and Development Agency, Government of Maharashtra (GSDA), the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) served letters to 108 commercial institutions to seek information about their daily water usage.
A meeting was held regarding Aquifer Sustainability and Management System Project under AMRUT 2.0 mission in Nagpur city recently. It was chaired by Dr Ishwar Chandra Das, Head, Hydrological Division, National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Hyderabad where Dr Shivaji Padhmane, Deputy Director, GSDA directed NMC to issue letters to commercial institutions to monitor their ground water usage on daily basis and whether they have permission from Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) and the Horse Power (HP) of their pumps installed on open wells or borewells.
All these days, Aquifer management was restricted to rural India only. Now under AMRUT 2.0, it was decided by the Ministry of Jal Shakti to launch ‘Aquifer Sustainability and Management System Project’ in few pilot cities, including Nagpur. To check the ground water status in such pilot cities, such meetings took place.
“Ground water withdrawal for domestic purpose in the city is marginal, but the main concern should be the commercial institutions like hostels, hospitals and hotels where the withdrawal could be on higher side,” said Dr Padhmane in the meeting. He further said, “Ground water withdrawal comes under the purview of CGWA and all ground water users need to seek their permission and get NOC from them after paying the requisite fees.”
After the meeting, a field visit in all zones took place. GSDA also suggested installing piezometers in few borewells of the city to check the ground water levels.
In the meeting, Dr Shweta Banerjee, Executive Engineer, NMC said, “There are around 773 public open wells and 5,080 public borewells in the city, which are maintained by NMC, especially for tackling extra demand during summer.” Almost 94% of the city is covered with pipe network. The remaining is proposed to be tackled under AMRUT 2.0 and shall be completed in next two years. Shrikant Waikar, Executive Engineer, NMC; Dr Varsha Mane, Senior Geologist, GSDA; Manoj Sangidwar; Narendra Bhandarkar; Ajay Gharjale; Nitin Zade; Jawahar Nayak; Prakash Nirwan; Praveen Thombare; and Ratnakar Panchabhai, delegates from all zones of NMC also were present.