The farmers in the taluk are in distress as the sources of water have dried up and water is unavailable even after sinking for 300 feet.
Rivers Avathi and Veda were the lifelines of the farmers in the taluk. These two rivers have gone dry due to extensive sand mining. Water flows in these rivers only in the rainy season. As a result, the dried-up river body has been encroached upon in most of the places in the taluk. The canals, which were built to supply water to lakes, are of no use.
The region is marred by drought the last three years, which has seriously hit the underground water levels. The water, which had been available at 80 to 100 feet, has now gone below 300 feet.
The State government, which has wake up from its slumber, has now passed a notification, declaring Kadur taluk as drought-hit and which utilises underground water to its maximum. Hence, getting permission to sink borewells has become mandatory. Many guidelines, including registration of borewells and open wells, are also included. As the taluk has been declared as drought-hit, the water woes have to be addressed by the gram panchayats.
Getting water
The gram panchayats have been sinking borewells, but water is available only beyond 400 feet. In a village near Kadur, three such instances have been found. Only one borewell provides water. In the same village, farmers have sunk 34 borewells and only four among them have traces of water. It is noteworthy that no permission had been availed to sink these borewells.
In spite of having many such instances, people have been sinking borewells with the help of rig machines and the depth of two borewells is less than 15 feet in many places. Many people have been taking electric connections illegally. There are very few people who apply to Mescom for the regularisation of electric connections. The villagers have urged the administration to apply break on the illegal sinking of borewells and to ban the borewell sinking machines. If the administration fails to do so, the underground water levels would stoop lower. The departments have to be alert in this regard, in order to protect underground water, as per government notification.