A total of 2,844 borwells that were abandoned in rural areas were closed by the district administration in the past one week.
Following the death of toddler in Tiruchi district, Collector C. Kathiravan has asked officials to check abandoned deep borewells and close them. Also, public were asked to report non-functional borewells so that it could be closed by the officials. Officials were asked to prepare a report of all deep borewells in private and government lands and other borwells in the district. Officials of the local bodies and revenue department inspected borewells and found 2,844 borwells abandoned and closed it.
Mr. Kathiravan said that officials would continue to carry out inspection to check the status of such borewells in the district. He said that there are 38,377 borewells in rural areas of which 35,322 borewells are in use while 3,055 borwells are not in use. “A total of 2,844 borewells were closed while the steps were being taken to utilise the remaining 277 borewells”, he added.
In Corporation limits, there are 910 borwells and 820 hand pumps that supply water to the residents. Corporation Commissioner M. Elangovan said officials are in the process of identifying borewells in government land, private land and farm lands so that abandoned borewells or unsafe borewells would be closed. He said that six borewells in the city were closed and asked people to report to the civic body if they found unused borwells.
