The Haryana government has decided to take penal action against builders who have failed to ensure that housing societies or townships built by them have the required power infrastructure. The government has given the builders “one last chance” to “fall in line”.
The move follows the strict stand by the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) against diesel gensets as part of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). Outages have been a cause for concern for thousands of residents in housing societies that depend on DG sets for power supply. One of the major causes of outages in Gurgaon is inadequate or under-capacity power distribution networks installed by some of the developers.
Thus has been the situation for years but it is the EPCA’s decision to ban diesel gensets that may finally bring a resolution. Haryana chief secretary Vijai Vardhan said on Tuesday that a list of all such builders was being shared with the EPCA. The government, he added, would give the developers one last opportunity to fix the shortcomings, after which they would be prosecuted. According to the list prepared by the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), there are around 20 builders who, despite collecting crores of rupees from residents for providing electricity, have not deposited the money with the discom. As a result, the societies built by them lack permanent power connections.
“The builders are solely responsible for the shortcomings, because of which the residents are suffering. These builders cannot hide behind petty excuses. There is no problem whatsoever with the power department. The blame clearly lies with these private developers. We are set to take strict action against them if they fail to fall in line. The EPCA or the state government cannot be blamed for the misdeeds of these private builders,” Vardhan said.
“We are in the process of sharing the list of all such private builders who have failed to get the required power infrastructure in the housing societies built by them, with EPCA. These builders are being given one last chance to fix the shortcomings in a time bound manner, after which they will be prosecuted,” he added.
Asked about the detailed affidavit which the Haryana government needs to submit to the EPCA, Vardhan said the departments concerned were constantly in touch with the pollution authority. The affidavit would lay down the time schedule for colonies that are fully or partially relying on DG sets.
According to a senior DHBVN official, builders of the 22 residential societies in Gurgaon that are either partially or fully dependent on DG sets have been repeatedly reminded that they need to address inadequacies on their part. “We have sent repeated notices to all these builders that they need to fulfil their obligation. But these notices seem to have fallen on deaf ears. These builders need to provide us land to build a 33KV switching station. Only then can the needed load get sanctioned,” the official said.
He added: “Thousands of residents are being forced to live without electricity, primarily because of the sloppiness of the builder. Instead of taking steps to provide us the needed land, some of these builders are approaching bodies like the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) in order to buy time. However, they need to understand such ploys will no longer work.”