The Hindu 01.03.2013
“Rainwater harvesting structure a must”
Mayor warns of drinking water disconnection if the residents fail to pay heed.
In an attempt to improve the groundwater table in areas
under its jurisdiction, the Corporation has decided to disconnect the
drinking water connection to those houses that have not incorporated the
rainwater harvesting structure on their premises.
“Whenever
we receive applications from home owners for building plan approval and
also for fixing house tax, our officials will inspect the spot and
ensure that there is a provision for installing a rainwater harvesting
system in the new structure.
If there is no rainwater harvesting system, no approval will be given nor the tax payable to the Corporation fixed.
For
the existing houses, the owners should create the rainwater harvesting
structure or else drinking water connection to these houses will be
cut,” Mayor Vijila Sathyananth announced in the council meeting held
here on Thursday.
No deadline set
Though
no deadline was set , the Mayor directed officials to issue notice to
all houses which had not created the rainwater harvesting system before
unplugging the drinking water connection.
Since the
district has suffered deficit rainfall for the fourth successive year,
the groundwater level in several areas under the Corporation limits has
gone down alarmingly.
Another important issue taken up in today’s council meeting was the delay in giving building plan approvals.
Green channel
Condemning
the “inordinate delay” even through the ‘Green Channel’, which was
introduced with the objective of clearing the applications within 24
hours, Deputy Mayor P. Jaganathan alias Ganesan of All India Anna
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam said the officials should sanction building
plan approvals at least within a week if the applications were received
under the ‘Green Channel’.
Deputy Mayor Ganesan wanted to know the deadline for giving building plan approvals.
Executive
Engineer (Planning), Soundararajan assured him that the applications
received under ‘Green Channel’ from Monday (March 4) onwards would be
cleared within a week.