Guwahati: Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) mayor Mrigen Sarania recently told The Telegraph that there is no provision in its bylaws to issue permissions or impose restrictions on deep boring in view of the aggravated groundwater crisis in the city.

"We cannot issue permission to anyone to set up deep boring. According to law, permission should be taken from the groundwater department of the state government. There is no provision in our law to impose any kind of restriction on it either," Sarania said.

In Guwahati, supply of water is an increasing business, where most businessmen extract water through deep boring and then sell it to others.

Sarania said, "The water crisis is a major issue in Guwahati. If someone has excess water they sell it. When we get public complaints about deep boring being done to sell water we ask them to stop it. In most such cases, the traders say they do not sell the water but only take the transportation charge from the customer. Everyone has the right to use groundwater, but it should not create problems for others."

A large area of the city from Pandu to Bhangagarh is covered under the GMC's water supply project, providing over 410 lakh litres of drinking water daily.

The corporation also has three water purification plants situated at Satpukhuri, Kamakhya and Panbazar.

GMC commissioner Monalisa Goswami said they had recently issued an order to all such water traders to submit a report on the biological and chemical quality of the water.

In a recent GMC survey, around 40 traders have been asked to submit the report on the water quality as soon as possible.