Can even land in jail for polluting groundwater in UP

Lucknow, Feb 12 (IANS) Polluting groundwater in Uttar Pradesh will now attract a penalty of Rs 2 lakh and even a jail term from six months to seven years, depending on the offence.

There are 82 lakh overexploited blocks, 47 lakh blocks groundwater levels were critical and 151 where they were semi-critical, said a miniter in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet after on Tuesday it cleared the regulations for the UP Groundwater (Management and Regulation) Act, 2019 passed last year.

Jal Shakti Minister Mahendra Singh said that the regulations will come into force as soon as a notification is issued.

The government has given one year's time to get all tube wells in the state registered.

For home owners and agriculturists, the online registration is free while a committee, headed by the chief secretary, will determine the fees to be paid for pumpsets being used for the industrial purposes.

Rainwater harvesting has been made mandatory in homes. If one is using a submersible pump set. The owners will have to get it registered within a year and simultaneously install a rainwater harvesting system.

The minister said that the constraint of space cannot be an excuse for not having rainwater harvesting as various designs are now available even for small areas.

Rainwater harvesting systems have also been made compulsory for all kinds of colleges, whether or not they use submersible pumps. These could be private or government colleges, and pertaining to any stream of education.

Mahendra Singh said: "Construction plans of all new buildings, government, commercial or private, will now be passed only if they install a rainwater harvesting system. If a house is constructed in more than 300 sq m area and a submersible is installed in it, especially in urban areas, rainwater harvesting will be compulsory for it."

Penalties have been prescribed for polluting groundwater, depending on the seriousness of the same.

A jail term of six months to one year or a fine of Rs 2 to 5 lakh or both would be handed out to a first-time offender. For a second time offence, the jail term would go up to two to five years with a fine of Rs 5 to 10 lakh. If the offence was repeated for a third time, the penalty would be a fine of Rs 10 to 20 lakh or a jail term of five to seven years or both.

Companies that carry out drilling for installation of pumps will also have to register with the government and submit a quarterly report of where and how many tube wells they have drilled.

The government will also maintain a data base of rainwater harvesting systems, companies that provide construction and maintenance services and other information related to groundwater recharge which will be available on the Jal Shakti department website.