PANJIM: The State government on Tuesday sealed 13 borewells drilled by M/s Gangareddy Infra Private Limited on the hillock at Morjim.
The Water Resources Department (WRD) Executive Engineer-I and ground water officer had earlier issued show cause notice to M/s Gangareddy Infra Pvt Ltd, stating that the act of drilling 13 borewells without obtaining necessary permission from the Ground Water Officer of WRD was a gross violation of the provisions under the Goa ground Water Regulation act, 2002 and Rules 2003.
The WRD stated that drilling of borewells was illegal and therefore the action as per the Act was involved. The WRD also found the reply by M/s Gangareddy Infra Pvt Ltd, was not satisfactory.
Incidentally, one of the sealed borewells was in the farmhouse of a famous South Indian actor.
The WRD action came ahead of two public interest litigation (PIL) writ petitions filed before the High Court of Bombay at Goa, challenging the State government’s decision to amend 17 (2) of the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act, to convert orchard land to settlement in the Regional Plan.