A resident of Satya Enclave on Kanke Road in Ranchi shows the water harvesting system on the premises. (Manob Chowdhary)

Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has floated a tender to empanel experienced contractors and agencies for setting up water harvesting structures in private buildings under the Rain Water Harvesting Regulation, 2016.

The regulation mandates the construction of such structures in buildings with 3,000sqft area.

Ranchi has been facing acute water crisis because of fast depleting groundwater reserves. However, despite the civic body slapping defaulters with heavy penalty — which is 1.5 times more than the holding tax — a majority of buildings in the 3,000sqft-area category don’t have water harvesting structures.

There are 53,000 buildings in Ranchi where water harvesting structures have to be constructed. According to available data, only 24,000 buildings have complied with the order so far.

From April 2017, the RMC has started collecting additional holding taxes from defaulters.

“RMC will charge Rs 50,000 for empanelling contractors and agencies for a period of three years. After that, it can be renewed for another three years on the payment of Rs 10,000. The move will enable residents to set up water harvesting structures in their houses according to the approved design. Heads of government buildings can avail the service as well. We have also listed the maximum cost of construction of the harvesting structure for different types of buildings. The lowest bidder will get selected,” an RMC official said.

The buildings have been divided into three categories.

Type-A buildings are those which are constructed over 3,000sqft plot. For such buildings, the maximum cost of construction of water harvesting structure would be Rs 37,200.

G-plus-two buildings spread over 3,000sqft and above have been listed under Type-B. The maximum construction cost of a harvesting structure in such a building would be Rs 42,300.

G-plus-three-and-above buildings spread over 3,000sqft have been listed under Type-C and the estimated construction cost of a harvesting structure for such buildings would be Rs 67,100.

RMC city manager Mrityunjay Pandey, who looks after the implementation of the civic body’s regulations, said they had been carrying out public campaigns to persuade people to construct water harvesting structures.

“Recently, we have sent notices to occupants of 940 apartments in 53 wards of RMC, asking them to construct the structure. Owners of flats in such apartments are paying penalty individually. Instead of paying fine, they should construct the structures,” Pandey said.