As many as 66 persons were arrested for attempting to lay a siege to the Collectorate here on Monday against illegal drawing of groundwater. They demanded the district administration to protect groundwater and prevent tanker lorries from drawing it.
Police personnel led by Deputy Superintendent of Police M. Seemaisamy prevented them from entering the meeting hall and moved them away before arresting them.
Mugilan, an environmental activist, who led the protest under the banner of ‘Groundwater Protection Movement’, said while people had been facing an acute drinking water shortage, the district administration was allowing tanker lorries to draw groundwater, which is depleting every day, to cater to the needs of private chemical industries here. Despite a ruling from High Court Bench in Madurai on July 11, 2017 that groundwater should not be sold to industries during water scarcity, the drawal of groundwater by such lorries is continuing.
Already, the groundwater source went below 100 feet and if such acts remained ignored by the district administration, the survival of common people, farmers and fishermen would be at a risk, he said.
The groundwater should be allowed for residents for their basic needs, next for agriculture and finally when water remained available, it could be supplied to the industries here, he said.
Lack of water has forced many residents in localities of Thoothukudi to fetch a pot of water at ₹10. On a daily average, about eight crore litres of groundwater is being drawn by tankers to supply water to industries, said Mr. Mugilan.
The former Thoothukudi Sub-Collector, except for government departments, enforced a ban on drawing groundwater by such lorries on February 2 in 2013 when water scarcity prevailed.
Even after enforcing a ban on drawing groundwater illegally, the former Collector launched a monitoring committee comprising Tahsildars and Block Development Officers to check any illegal drawing of water. But such a committee was ignorant about illegal drawing of groundwater nowadays, he said.
