57 teams formed to check rainwater harvesting systems in private colonies

The inspection will be part of the Jalshakti Abhiyan that is being carried out under the supervision of district administration against illegal pumping of groundwater and operation of illegal borewells in Gurugram.

To check whether rain water harvesting systems are operational in private colonies of the city, the department of town and country planning (DTCP) has constituted 57 teams that will conduct a day-long inspection on Friday in areas along Golf Course Road, Sohna Road, MG Road, Southern Peripheral Road and sectors along the Dwarka Expressway.

The inspection will be part of the Jalshakti Abhiyan that is being carried out under the supervision of district administration against illegal pumping of groundwater and operation of illegal borewells in Gurugram.

RS Bhath, district town planner, said that 57 teams will check the provisions and functionality of rain water harvesting (RWH) systems in private colonies. “Large condominium complexes and plotted colonies have been identified on major roads and assigned to each team which shall visit there and find the status of RWH systems in respective areas,” he said.

Bhath said that they had started working in June towards compliance of rain water harvesting rules after they received directions from the headquarters in Chandigarh about implementing the zero rain water discharge system for Gurugram. “We are already working on how to integrate the RWH structures in private colonies and use of recycled water for different activities so that rain water is not wasted,” he said, adding RWH structures are part of the sanctioned building plan and need to be constructed.

On Wednesday, a meeting was convened by Amit Khatri, commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Gurugram, who directed every executive engineer to seal minimum 20 illegal borewells. Khatri also directed that rain water harvesting systems should also be checked in their respective areas and it should be ensured that these are functional.

HSVP administrator Chander Shekhar Khare said the authority had made it mandatory for its engineering wing officials in September 2018 to ensure that every house had a functional rainwater harvesting structure while issuing occupation certificate.