In dry Latur, NGRI bid to find water hits red tape

HYDERABAD: Even as the Centre’s special water trains rush to bring relief to the drought-hit district of Latur, a group of scientists from city-based National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) were stopped in their tracks while attempting to find new aquifers in the area.
Earlier this month, a team of six scientists from NGRI embarked on a survey to identify possible groundwater reserves in Latur, which, they felt, could mitigate any drought-like situation in the future.But it seems the local administration, including the district collector, gram panchayat and the Groundwater Survey and Development Agency (GSDA), want nothing to do with these scientists.
“Since the time we reached Latur, restrictions were imposed on us. We were told not to survey private land. Our idea was to identify places where people could tap groundwater. But the local administration has asked us to limit ourselves to government land only,” said Dr Shakeel Ahmed, chief scientist, NGRI, who is the team leader.
When a drought-like situation occurs, it does not identify government or private land, it just occurs, Ahmed told TOI. “So this idea of surveying only government land defeats the purpose of our visit. The situation has escalated to such an extent that our team has also received threats from a few people,” he added.
Expressing anguish, he said, “If the government did not want us to conduct a survey or study, we should have been told. Or else, we should have been given complete access to the area.We are not conducting the survey for our benefi t, we are doing it for the people.”
The team was supposed to identify new aquifers at the behest of a Mumbai-based NGO, Empathy Foundation, which was looking to dig borewells. “Now that we are caught in this bureaucratic bungle, it will take us some time to fi gure out a contingency plan,” Ahmed told TOI from Latur. On Wednesday, a 50-wagon train carrying 25 lakh litres of water reached the district. The train, ‘Jaldoot’, left Miraj in western Maharashtra at around 11 pm last night for Latur. So far, 70 lakh litres of water have been delivered in Latur.