January 31, 2018

Residents of apartment buildings which do not possess an occupancy certificates (OCs) will now get water supply, but at a higher rate. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will charge buildings without OCs twice the existing rate for water. The move came after Jagdish Ojha, BJP corporator from Anand Nagar, Dahisar, tabled a proposal in the BMC Law Committee that even those residential buildings that do not have an OC should be given water supply at normal rates. However, the civic administration rejected this proposal.

“I would say the matter has been left pending. If buildings do not have OCs, it’s not the fault of the residents or tenants. Cutting water supply or charging double would penalise these residents. There was no consensus on the issues in the committee, hence the matter has now been referred to the municipal commissioner,” said Ojha.

As per rough estimates, there are around 56,000 buildings in the city that do not have OCs, but are occupied by owners or tenants.

According to civic norms, flat owners cannot live in a flat until it has been given an OC from the building proposals department of the BMC. Buildings without OCs are not given a water connection and are charged a higher property tax. However, the BMC has now decided not to cut water connections but to charge twice the current rate from flat owners.

“The main culprit here are the builders and developers. They do not procure the OC and give possession to flat owners, which causes a lot of difficulties. To prevent this, we along with the state government are working on framing a policy. If possession is taken without abiding by the development control rules, the Municipal Act, action will be taken against related developers, architects and the people occupying the flat,” said a senior BMC official.

Currently, there are 24 criteria that need to be fulfilled to get an OC, which include meeting the prescribed safety norms and ensuring zero violations during construction.

The official added, “We are not disconnecting water supply on humanitarian grounds. However, we want residents and tenants to pressurise the builders and developers to get OCs. This is being done by charging them double for water.”

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Source: indianexpress.com