The criteria to be adopted while taking up digging of wells under MGNREGA are:
a. Bore wells and tube wells are not considered as a permissible activity.
b. Digging of private wells it not allowed in semi-critical or critical or over-exploited regions as per the assessment of central Government of Water Board's (CGWB) latest assesment.
c. Only group wells are permitted in CGWB declared semi-critical or crital areas.
d. Formal agreement on stamp paper for sharing water between a group of farmers and group well beneficiaries would be required . The agreement needs to be verified by the GP concerned.
e. An individual farmer can be a member in a single group (not in many).
f. A group well should be registered as group irrigation well in revenue records.
g. Individual wells are permitted in CGWB declared safe zones subject to the relevant spacing between two such wells. Diameter should be within 8 m (hard areas) and 6 m (soft and alluvial areas).