Jahaj village panchayat area of Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan has been devastated with contamination of water resources and sinking water tables. The locals have been alleging the situation on uranium exploration exercise held in the region by central government agencies. Amid the deteriorating situation, the public health engineering department minister of the state on Monday announced to get the issue investigated.
"We will have a team of ground water experts investigate the issue, It could be possibly due to sinking water table in such case alternative arrangement of water supply will be made for the area" PHED minister Surendra Goyal assured the Rajasthan Assembly.
The issue was raised at the Assembly by Udaipurwati MLA Shubhkaran Choudhary. The MLA alleged that during exploration the Uranium Corporation of India, a central government subsidiary had dug deep borewells and used chemicals that led to contamination of ground water. He claimed that contamination of water has not only spoiled farms but has also been cause of several diseases in the area.
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"Uranium exploration has led to contamination of ground water and people are being forced to migrate, the government should ensure action against the guilty officials and compensation for local victims" said Chaudhary.
Uranium exploration was initiated in the region in year 2010 during which the UCI bored 113 wells of depth from 780 meters to 2012 meters. The UCI being a central government agency do not require clearances from local pollution control board and other state government agencies, following which the state government had not monitored the exploration process earlier. Even as the uranium extracted during the process is stable and usually safe, improper management of the bore wells can lead to ground water contamination.
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