Mangalore : The first meeting of the newly constituted DK District Level Underground Water Authority was held at the DC office in Mangalore on February 4, Monday under the presidentship of Deputy Commissioner N Prakash.

Speaking on the occasion, the DC who chairs the Authority said  43 villages in Puttur, Bantwal and Mangalore taluks have been identified as villages using maximum underground water resources. He said sinking of borewells in these villages need prior approval of the Authority and anyone violating the rule will have to pay a fine of Rs 5000 and will have to even undergo  six months of imprisonment.

In Mangalore taluk – Kinya,  Konaje, Manjanady, Someshwar and Talapady will come under the Act, while in Puttur taluk the following villages come under the rule namely Ariyadka, Aryapu, Badagannur, Balnadu, Bettampady, Kudipadi, Kedambady, Irde, Kuriya, Mudnur, Nidapalli, Padavannur, Panaje and Olamogaru. In Bantwal taluk as many as 24 villages will come under the act.

He said   those who have already sunk bore wells will have to register with the Mines Department and also clarify if the bore well water is used for domestic or commercial purposes. The DC also stated that no bore well could be sunk within a  radius of 500 meters from existing water resources.

Several officials including  Abhishek Goel, SP, KN Vijayaprakash, ZP CEO, Dayananda, Additional DC were present at the meeting.