No water, power to houses without certificate: MCD - Hindustan Times

No water, power to houses without certificate: MCD - Hindustan Times:

In case you have constructed an additional room illegally or covered the setbacks (open spaces on the plot), get ready to see days without electricity and water. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) — while booking houses for carrying out illegal construction — will send a report of the same to power distribution companies and the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), who will cut the connections.

Not only this, no new electricity and water connection will be given to anyone who fails to produce a completion certificate issued by the civic agency.

These directions were given to the civic agency in a meeting chaired by the lieutenant governor recently.

As per the minutes of the meeting, construction as per a sanctioned building plan has become a pre-requisite for obtaining a new electricity and water connection.

MCD officials explained that it was only at the time of issuing a completion certificate that one was able to establish whether construction had been done according to the building plan sanctioned by the MCD.

“A meeting was recently held to discuss issues related to illegal construction, which is being done across the city. To keep a check on this we have been told to ensure that we issue completion certificates to the owners after carrying out a survey. Distribution companies and the water utility has been told not to issue any new connections if they fail to show the certificate,” said a senior MCD official.

For those who have carried out illegal construction and made deviations to the original plan, power and water connection to their homes will be snapped.

The Delhi Municipal Corporation Act says that every building owner in the city should procure a certificate before he or she occupies the place.

The civic agency, however, claimed that most owners do not get the certificate issued that not only leads to revenue loss but also hinders them from checking whether a building is structurally safe or not.

Some officials, however, said that staff crunch in the building department would make it difficult to implement the order.