VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has decided to refuse permission for new buildings in the city if the builders fail to construct rainwater harvesting pits. 

A decision in this regard was taken by the VMC officials after observing violation of the norm by many builders even after payment of the requisite fee to the municipal corporation.  

At the recent VMC council meeting, several ruling Telugu Desam corporators complained to Mayor Koneru Sreedhar that majority of the building owners in the city were ignoring construction of rainwater harvesting pits on building premises. 

The VMC council passed a resolution earlier  making inclusion of rainwater harvesting pits in the building plans in Vijayawada mandatory. The construction of rainwater water harvesting pits helps increase the groundwater table in the city.  After making it mandatory, the municipal corporation has given permissions for as many as 2,500 buildings in the city through online and earned a revenue of Rs 7 crore through collection of fee towards the construction of rainwater harvesting pits. 

According to the VMC town planning wing officials, the people can obtain building plan  approval by applying through online.  “A software will check the provision for rainwater harvesting pits in the building plan as soon as it is uploaded for permission. If there are any deviations from the town planning rules in the  building plan, it will be rejected. If the building plan meets all the parameters, including the rainwater harvesting pits, its approval is certain,” said a senior VMC official of the town planning department.

He admitted that due to busy work schedule of the town planning officials they could not strictly verify the inclusion of rainwater harvesting pits in the building plans in some areas of the city. A team of officials were deployed to conduct surprise checks across the city and initiate action against the builders who flouted the rules with regard to construction of rainwater harvesting pits, he added.