Land for substation, EC must for project registration under Haryana’s new policy
GURUGRAM: To get the permanent solution for air and noise pollution caused by genset dependency of the city’s residential societies and commercial buildings that are still not connected to the power grid, the Haryana government is about to make changes to its existing rules by November. Besides that, the department of town and country planning (DTCP) will issue occupation certificates to real-estate projects only after getting NOC from the electricity department.
In addition to this, the government will make sure that layouts of real-estate projects are approved only if they earmark land for the construction of power sub-station. In various areas, the electricity department is not able to construct a substation for power supply due to the unavailability of land.
However, according to the new norms, HRERA will register a real-estate project only if it has the features of greenbelts, conservation of water, ambient air quality monitoring facilities, and waste recycling mechanisms, among others for pollution control and waste management.
Chief Secretary of Haryana, Keshni Anand Arora, in the Praveen Kakkar and others vs MoEF and others case, had submitted a report before NGT on September 30. He has also submitted a draft policy incorporating the changes to the existing rules governing real-estate projects.
“The department of environment and climate change will finalize the mechanism or draft policy. Further, it will be adopted by the state government after due approval of the competent authority including MoEF & CC by November,” said Arora.
Currently, most societies in the new sectors and some other parts of Gurgaon rely completely on diesel-powered gensets for power supply, aggravating the poor air quality of the region.
The changes in the policy were made after NGT in February had found serious violations related to the discharge of untreated sewage, illegal extraction of groundwater among others in the above mention case. After that, they told the chief secretary of Haryana to suggest the mechanism for enforcement of rules of law and also to prevent such illegalities in the state.
Arora said in her in the report submitted before NGT “The registration of real-estate projects with HRERA will be subject to the submission of arrangements and facilities to be provided to control environmental pollution and waste management,”
As per the present policy, the developers don’t need to have proper water or power connection for getting an occupation certificate from the department of the town. Several developers have handed over flats to buyers without waiting for the government to develop civic infrastructure. This kind of society runs on diesel generators throughout the day and water is supplied through tankers.
In Gurgaon use of diesel generators in access has multiple consequences. It includes the impact on the environment, higher tariffs for the consumers, and noise pollution. “Due to the non-availability of HVPNL power connectivity, the power supply is only through DG sets. This creates a financial problem for residents as a major chunk of the common fund is spent on diesel, and very little is left for other facilities like lifts, and general welfare of the residents. The diesel generators running all day also harm the environment,” said Samrat Kumar, resident of Sector 95.
