Ranchi Municipal Corporation is cracking the whip on buildings that still don’t have rainwater harvesting systems in place.

The civic body has sent notices to more than 208 government buildings for not installing the structures. It is in the process of sending notices to 33,000 houses too.

Under the state’s Rainwater Harvesting Regulations, 2016, any government or private building with plot size more than 3,000 square feet must have a rainwater harvesting structure. Owners of such buildings that don’t have rainwater harvesting facilities have to pay 1.5 times more holding tax.

Now, the municipal corporation is considering changing the regulations to make rainwater harvesting systems mandatory, include houses with 1,000 sq ft area and above, and incorporate strict penalties for refusal to comply. The civic body in its board meeting last week cleared the proposal.

“We will be placing the proposal at the RMC standing committee meeting on Saturday next for a formal approval. Then we will be sending it to state urban development department for a change in the existing Rainwater Harvesting Regulations-2016 allowing even houses in 1,000 sq ft carpet area to also have the structures,” said deputy mayor Sanjeev Vijaywargiya.

The Telegraph

Asked about what kind of penalties for non-compliance the civic body wants, he said they could include disconnection of water and/or electricity supply.

Additional municipal commissioner Girja Shankar Prasad said government buildings that still don’t harvest rainwater have approached the civic body for installation of the system.

“We are trying to exert pressure to ensure that a large number of structures are installed before the end of monsoon (September),” Prasad said. “We will also be sending notices to those apartments and individual houses existing in 3,000 sq ft carpet area or above who are yet to have rainwater structures. We also plan to include houses of 1,000 sq ft carpet area by changing the existing regulations.”

A source in the civic body said there are around 55,000 houses of 3,000 sq ft and above in Ranchi city out of which just 22,000 have rainwater harvesting structures.

“We have already sent notices to the remaining houses. However, if the regulations are changed then the total number of houses that must have the structures will be more than 3 lakh in Ranchi,” said the source.

Mrityunjay Pandey, the RMC’s nodal officer for rainwater harvesting, said tax officials associated with the civic body have been going around the city to see if the existing rainwater harvesting structures are functional or not.

“The tax officials are doing the survey to see if the existing rainwater harvesting structures are properly functioning or not, especially if the runoff pipes are damaged or not. This will be done during the Jal Sanchayan Abhiyan (till September 15),” said Pandey.

Since the launch of the Abhiyan on July 2, the RMC has launched 200 new rainwater harvesting structures in the capital.