Phansidewa block authorities today said they would take stern action against illegal mining in local rivers, following complaints from panchayat officials that such activities have led to the groundwater level depleting in the area, thus leading to an acute water crisis. Phansidewa Block Development Officer (BDO) Birupakshya Mitra will seek a report on mining on the Chang river bed and request the sub-divisional land and land reforms officer to take action if sand mining there was found illegal. “We must take stern action against such mining if we find that the sand is being dug up and supplied without prior permission from the land and land reforms department,” Mr Mitra said. Mr Mitra came to know that mining on the river Chang may have been going on illegally after a meeting with irrigation engineers and gram panchayat officials. The engineers told the BDO that ‘unscientific’ mining has caused the ground water level to recede. Though the Siliguri sub-division is receiving sporadic rainfall after a long dry spell, the ground water level is not normal enough for people to collect water from wells and tube wells. Local residents are facing a crisis of drinking water, while farmers have failed to irrigate their fields in the Phansidewa area. The BDO has asked gram panchayat (GP) officials to make a list of tube wells and other sources of drinking water in the block. GP officials were also asked to mention the location of tube wells and the other sources and if they are functional. The objective is to repair the non-functional tube wells during the dry spell. With a view to supplying drinking water through a pipeline in the Bidhannagar area, PHE officials were yesterday asked to repair a leakage in the pipeline to ensure proper distribution. On the other hand, Mahananda Barrage Project officials were asked to release water for irrigation in a controlled manner for the vegetable fields in the block. It is however reported that there was no need for the officials to manage such a huge quantity of water as the farmers in the Phansidewa block have not been cultivating the boro paddy at present.