Gurgaon questions move to snap water lines

GURGAON: Two days after the Gurgaon HUDA administrator directed builders to disconnect the water and sewerage lines of house-owners living in licensed residential colonies without taking the mandatory occupation certificate from the town and country planning department, residents protested the move saying the administrator did not have jurisdiction over the matter.On Wednesday, the administrator had ordered to disconnect the lines of 1,105 houses.
Gurgaon Citizens' Council (GCC), an umbrella body of RWAs, has written to the Haryana CM and chief administrator, HUDA in this regard. "The jurisdiction over private builder-licensed colonies lies with the directorate of town and country planning (DTCP). HUDA administrator Nitin Yadav has no authority to comment or act on these matters. In fact, when we try to meet him regarding issues that are under the jurisdiction of HUDA such as water supply, master sewage, sector roads, horticulture and rainwater harvesting Yadav shirks responsibility saying these were not under his jurisdiction,'' said R S Rathi, president, GCC.
Rathi further said, "Issues relating to private builder-licensed colonies are extremely complex and a lot of community facilities have not been provided despite the payment of heavy internal and external development charges even after 20-25 years. These facilities should be provided to citizens expeditiously and efficiently instead of issuing public threats to disconnect essential services. Yadav is creating a lot of confusion among the public with regard to completion certificates, and water and sewage connections in private builder-licensed colonies. The top government officials should immediately intervene in the matter.''
In a public statement issued on Wednesday, Yadav had said that it had been noticed that there are 295 cases in which house-owners were asked to remove the deficiencies or deviations after examination when they applied for grant of occupation certificates. "They are now being given two weeks to get the occupation certificate, failing which they will also face departmental action,'' Yadav had said.