Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) secretary Samit Sharma has made it mandatory to construct rain water harvesting structure in a 225 sq metre residential plot or 500 sq metre industrial plot for water connection.
He said that the defaulters will be penalised or may be subjected to legal action for jail sentence.
“We have decided to enforce provisions of environment conservation in the Building bylaws 10.11.1 which mandates for construction of rain water harvesting structure in building constructed on more than 225 sq metre land. This will help in raising the ground water level and promote rain water harvesting,” he said.
Similarly, under the provisions of RIICO Building bylaws -2021, plots more than 500 sq metre should have rain water harvesting structure.
Sharma warned that unless buildings with more than 225 sq metre plot area construct rain water harvesting structure in its setback, urban bodies like nagar nigam, nagar parishad and nagar Palika will not issue No Objection Certificate (NoC) and completion certificate mandatory for water connection.
According to a report on dynamic ground water resources released by central ground water authority, 71%, which is 216 ground water blocks out of total 302 blocks are over exploited. For sustainable use, water harvesting and recharge of ground water is mandatory.
In the past few months, Sharma has taken several initiatives to save water and streamline the distribution system.
On the spot water harvesting certification for industrial connection
Samit Sharma said that junior engineers of the area will have to certify about the construction of water harvesting structure on every application after physical visit. The certificate must be attached with the application submitted for any water connection.
“Assistant Engineers, will have to physically verify structure on at least 40% application while executive engineers will have to certify at least 5% and superintendent engineer will have to verify 2% of the application received for water connection.,” he said.
Prakash Bhandari is a veteran journalist with over 50 years of experience. He has worked with The Times of India for 30 years and contributed to leading publications as well as international news agency AFP.
