Bhu-Neer portal filing: how a groundwater NOC application is actually made.

Bhu-Neer is the Central Ground Water Authority online platform for groundwater abstraction No Objection Certificates. Applications for new NOCs, renewals and amendments are submitted, tracked and decided through it, and abstraction charges are computed on it. It succeeded the earlier NOC application portal as the single window for the process.

Users abstracting groundwater above the thresholds set out in the applicable CGWA guidelines: industries, infrastructure and mining projects, bulk water suppliers, and commercial and institutional users. Individual domestic users and, in general, agricultural users are outside the requirement, though the position depends on the guidelines in force and whether the area is notified.

Typically the hydrogeological report and impact assessment where applicable, the water balance justifying the quantum, details and coordinates of the abstraction structures, the recharge or rainwater harvesting plan, land and project documents, and the prescribed undertakings on metering, piezometers and water level reporting. The exact set depends on the user category and the block category.

Yes. The applicable CGWA guidelines provide for charges on groundwater abstraction, computed on the portal by reference to the quantum drawn and the category of the assessment unit, with higher rates in stressed areas. The computation should be verified against the declared quantum before payment, because it follows the figures entered in the application.

Most often because the portal entries and the uploaded technical reports do not agree: a different abstraction figure, well coordinates that fall in another assessment unit, or a recharge commitment that is not reflected in the plan attached. Incomplete undertakings and unsigned documents are the other common cause. These are drafting failures, not adjudication delays.

CGWA is the central authority acting under the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, and the NOC is a central instrument. Several States have their own groundwater legislation and authorities, and in those States a State-level permission may run in parallel with or in place of the CGWA route. The applicable route should be confirmed for the State the project sits in.

The NOC is conditional. It permits a stated quantum, and it typically requires digital flow meters on abstraction structures, piezometers for water level observation, periodic reporting of abstraction and water levels, implementation of the recharge measures committed, and payment of abstraction charges. Those conditions are what a renewal is later assessed against.