MUMBAI: In a development that has raised serious concerns over enforcement gaps in the city, officials have acknowledged large-scale illegal groundwater extraction across Mumbai’s suburbs, but no FIRs have been registered so far, prompting a local activist to initiate legal action.Mumbai-based groundwater activist Sureshkumar Dhoka has submitted official documents that confirm widespread unauthorised borewells and commercial use of groundwater, despite clear legal provisions governing its extraction.According to a formal notice issued by Dhoka, the Maharashtra State Groundwater Authority had earlier forwarded multiple complaints highlighting violations under the Maharashtra Groundwater (Development and Management) Act, 2009.
These complaints flagged illegal extraction and misuse of groundwater, particularly for tanker supply.Further, verification by the Insecticide Branch of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (BMC) reportedly identified hundreds of illegal wells engaged in unauthorised extraction and commercial exploitation, underscoring the scale of the issue in the city.An official communication issued in April 2026 by the Sub-Divisional Officer (Western Suburbs) has now formally acknowledged that several borewells are operating without mandatory permissions from the Central Ground Water Authority.
The report also confirmed that groundwater is being diverted for commercial tanker operations.The officer noted that such violations attract penal action under the Environment Protection Act, 1986 as well as provisions of the Indian Penal Code. Field inspections have already been carried out and the violations were found to be “serious in nature”.However, despite these findings, enforcement action on the ground remains absent.
Authorities have so far limited their response to internal directions for inquiry, with no confirmed steps such as filing FIRs, sealing illegal borewells or recovering environmental compensation from violators.This lack of action comes even as groundwater is legally treated as a public trust resource, and its unauthorised extraction is considered both an environmental and criminal offence.The issue gains significance in the backdrop of recent directives by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which in a May 28, 2025 order had mandated strict enforcement measures in similar cases.
These included compulsory GPS tracking of water tankers, registration of FIRs against offenders and treating illegal groundwater extraction as a punishable offence akin to theft.“Authorities have officially confirmed illegal groundwater extraction, yet no concrete enforcement action has followed. This is not lack of law — it is failure to implement law,” Dhoka said.He has now initiated legal proceedings and is preparing to approach the Bombay high court, seeking enforcement of groundwater regulations, criminal action against violators and accountability of officials responsible for inaction.The case has brought into focus broader public interest concerns, including unregulated depletion of groundwater in Mumbai, increasing commercialisation of a critical natural resource and administrative inertia despite documented violations.With summer approaching and dependence on tanker water rising in several parts of the city, experts warn that unchecked extraction could further strain already stressed groundwater reserves unless authorities move swiftly from acknowledgment to enforcement.
