Urban News

The Indian Express 14.09.2009

Vadodara civic body makes rainwater harvesting mandatory for new constructions

In view of the depleting groundwater level, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has yet again attempted to make the citizens aware of the benefits of rainwater harvesting.

To this effect, the VMC has issued a notification whereby any upcoming construction within its limits will need to have percolating wells for rainwater harvesting.

Even those constructing new buildings by demolishing old structures in the Walled City areas will have to follow the rules.

According to officials of the Town Planning Department, the notification is actually being re-issued to simplify the building construction permission process.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner C M Makwana said: “The intention is to improve on the depleting groundwater level.

The guidelines were in existence. We have just made it mandatory with the new notification.

If the builders — who are planning to come up with new schemes — follow the system, it will help in improving the groundwater level.”

According to the notification, those who have diverted rainwater to drainage connection will have to get the certificate from the respective ward offices stating that the drainage connection for rainwater has been closed.

They have to procure this for getting the plinth check certificate.

Similarly, at the time of construction of the commercial building, the builder will have to mention about the arrangement for rainwater harvesting.

The same will be verified at the time of issuing the completion certificate.

As per the new rule, each multi-storeyed building will have to have one percolating well for each unit (residence or office). The location of the percolating well will have to be in a way that maximum water is accumulated in the well.

Similarly, in the tenement type of schemes there will have to be 4.50 metres of common margin between two building units, with 0.90 metre balcony projection at the slab level.

The level of basement will have to be mentioned in the plan and the surveyor will verify the same at the time of checking the plinth.

Each commercial complex and multi-storeyed building will have to show provisions for rainwater harvesting and the same will be cross-checked at the time of issuing the building completion certificates.

The Indian Express 14.09.2009

Soon, you can just dial to get civic problems solved

Instead of the usual running from pillar to post to follow up their civic complaints, citizens living in the jurisdiction of the Pune Municipal Corporation will now have at their disposal a grievance call centre that promises to take up their problems earnestly.

The PMC has decided start a call centre service for registering complaints and providing updates on the status of each application. It is likely to start in less than a month.

As part of the Grievance Redressal System (GRS), the civic administration has put in the facility of collecting applications at ward offices and at its main building in Shivajinagar area. In addition, the complaints can also be filed online through the facility available on the official website of the PMC.

“Not everyone is internet savvy or have continuous access to internet. There are very few complaints registered online and most are still filed in the PMC offices,” Rajendra Erande, in-charge of the PMC IT department, said. He said the present facility does not provide updates of the status of the application and citizens have to make rounds of the departments.

Many citizens still continue to either call up or personally visit civic offices to file complaints, Erande said.

“The entire process leads to wastage of time and energy of citizens as well as the civic officers.” To speed up the redressal system, Erande said the PMC has decided to make available round-the-clock call centre service wherein the citizens can call and register their complaint.

“The complaints would be either manually entered in the computerised grievance redressal system or automatically through voice operating system. Citizens can check the status of their complaints through the online service or through the call centre,” he said adding discussions are on for setting up the call centre on PPP basis.

The computerised system will also bring in more accountability as senior officers would continuously monitor the action taken on each complaint, Erande said. Amit Kadam of Perstistent Systems said the PMC website will soon be made more active by addition of new features.

“Work to upgrade the PMC website is on. Citizens can get birth, death and marriage certificates through internet. Also, the property tax facility that had been facing technical problems will be fully operational for online payment,” he said.