New domestic borewell policy on anvil: Delhi Water minister

New Delhi: The Delhi government is working on a new domestic borewell policy in the national capital with some of the red tape removed, Water Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma said on Friday.

Making his statement in the Budget Session of the Delhi Assembly, the minister said that under the policy, permissions will be given to domestic consumers for a small fee.

“Currently, many illegal borewells are operating in the city. Notices are served to people. Also, there are several permissions required to set up a borwell. We will end all this. Soon, the Delhi government will announce a new borewell policy under which permissions will be given to domestic users with ease,” Verma said.

He said that the chief minister has directed that the entire process be made easy without the district magistrate’s no-objection certificate.

Better water management will be the aim of the government to fulfil the current drinking requirements of the city, Verma added.

Officially, Delhi has around 5,000 borewells, but authorities claim the actual number is much higher.

Meanwhile, Verma also said that the government is working on increasing the city’s overall

sewage treatment capacity to 1,500 million gallons per day (MGD) in the next few years.