The Times of India            01.10.2013 

HUDA disconnects water supply to erring builder

GURGAON: After repeated complaints about illegal use of potable water for construction of a school building by a private builder within the premises of Nirvana Country, HUDA has finally disconnected the supply and warned the builder of stern action in case the offence is repeated.

The residents of Nirvana Country, constructed by Unitech in Sector 50, have been protesting against the proposed plan of building 20 schools on the premises. While one of the schools has already come up despite protests by the residents, they had protested strongly against the second school construction, alleging use of groundwater for construction purposes in spite of orders issued by Punjab and Haryana high court.

Sandeep Mitra, an RWA member, said on Friday night residents spotted misuse of groundwater after which they clicked pictures and lodged a complaint with HUDA and Sadar police station. On Saturday, a team of HUDA officials reached the spot and disconnected the supply and warned the private builder, Drass Properties in this case, to not use groundwater for construction purposes.

"We had lodged a similar complaint with the deputy commissioner a few days ago to check misuse of water during construction but it was turned down by the authorities," said Mitra and added that finally authorities have taken some action by disconnecting the supply.

Jitendra Yadav of Drass Properties said, "I had bought the site from Unitech and started construction of a nursery school but the local residents opposed the building of schools owing to which work was stopped." On the issue of misusing groundwater, he confirmed that HUDA has disconnected supply and he was using water tankers for his requirement.

Abhishek Chatta, estate manager, Unitech, said he was not aware of the episode as he was not in office but he came to know about HUDA officials' visit to Nirvana Country in connection with the water issue.

Meanwhile, the residents have been demanding installation of an STP by Unitech to ensure groundwater is not used for construction. Rakesh Sachdeva, another resident, said despite request by residents, Unitech officials declined any possibility of STP plant for lack of land and money resources as well as completion of construction.

"The residents are concerned about the presence of so many schools within residential dwellings. There is no access planned to these schools from arterial roads and no traffic study has been done as how to handle increased traffic density" said Sachdeva.