Saurashtra borewell contractors dig gold

With drought looming large over the state after the last spell of rains, which had evoked some improvement in the water situation disappeared, the only viable source for meeting the water demand is borewells.

The state government has already gone on an overdrive to dig as many wells as possible in shortest possible time to tide over the water scarcity in Saurashtra and Kutch.

Taking advantage of the situation, borewell contractors have increased the rates of setting up a borewell by 50 per cent. The four-inch and six-inch borewells, which were already expensive to set up, have become costlier with inflation.

The per foot price of four inch borewell has touched Rs 60 in some areas, the prevailing market price ranging between Rs 40 and Rs 50.

Top officials of the mechanical section in the water resources department said the government has no other way but to give additional money to get the work done. The government pays Rs 90 per metre for digging a borewell in black, basaltic terrain and Rs 140 in sandy terrain.

The drilling companies say increase in labour wages, diesel prices and lodging and boarding costs for labourers make the business unviable as per old prices.

A meeting of borewell contractors from Saurashtra was convened by the government in Junagadh to decide the pricing of borewells and officials of the water resources department also attended the meeting.

However, a top official of the water resources department termed the meeting as routine. Among the major borewell schemes of the state government, the Wakaner project consists of drilling 120 borewells and a scheme in Lalpadri segment for supplying water to Jamnagar.

Meanwhile, water supply through tankers is being conducted for most villages in Saurashtra.

About 235 tankers have been deployed to supply water to 398 villages.

According to the latest water resources department report, about 46 tankers supply water to 47 villages in Rajkot district, 104 tankers for 108 villages in Jamnagar district, 46 tankers for 179 villages in Kutch district, 31 tankers for 54 villages in Bhavnagar district and eight tankers for 10 villages in Porbandar district.

The government has spent almost Rs 3 crores behind these operations until now.

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Compiled from Local news media