The District Administration has slapped water tax notices on a total of 47 industrial units in the district amounting to Rs 1.58 crore for extracting ground water without seeking required permission from the authorities.
The State government had formulated a policy on ‘Ground Water Extraction during 2009’ for industrial units. As per the policy, the industrial units have to seek the permission from the Central Ground Water Board before extracting ground water.
A complaint was lodged regarding drawing of ground water by certain industrial units following which the District Collector had formed a team of officials to investigate the issue, official sources here informed.
The officials carried out extensive investigation regarding unauthorised ground water usage in Durg-Bhilai region apart from others parts of the district and found that many of the units were also extracting ground water beyond the limit prescribed for them.
After completion of the investigation, notices were slapped on the erring units. The units had been asked to pay the amount due to them within the time limit allocated for them.