Chandigarh: Nov 12:
The Punjab Water Regulation and Development Authority has sought objections from people on the draft Punjab Groundwater Extraction and Conservation Guidelines, 2020 under Section 15(4) of the Punjab Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Act, 2020 till December 17, 2020.
Divulging the details, a spokesperson of the authority said that the objections could be filed with application fee of Rs 500/- either by email to: comments.pwrda@punjab.gov.in or by post to: Secretary, Punjab Water Regulation and Development Authority, SCO 149-152, Sector 17 C, Chandigarh 160017. This draft proposes that permission of the Authority would be mandatory for extracting groundwater by every user in Punjab for commercial and industrial purposes. The Authority has exempted extraction of groundwater for Agriculture & related activities and for Drinking & Domestic usage. The Guidelines also proposes charges for groundwater extraction which would be volumetric and based on water meters to be installed by all users. Slab rates are proposed, with minimal rates for small volumes of groundwater extracted up to 10 cubic metres per day, to give relief to micro, small and medium enterprises.
The state has been divided into three zones: Green, Yellow and Orange. The highest Groundwater Charges apply to the Orange zone which was the most water stressed and the lowest Charges were in the Green zone. The full text of the Draft Guidelines was available at the following websites: www.punjab.gov.in and www.irrigation.punjab.gov.in.
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