Six Months Deadline For Installing Rainwater Harvesting System In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: To protect groundwater level and prevent urban flash floods, the city administration has decided to make it mandatory for buildings built on a minimum area of 300 square metres to have Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) system within six months.

Many structures have not complied with the regulations. So, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) have now jointly decided to take measures to ensure strict implementation or impose fines.

“It has been decided to take measures to ensure strict implementation of rainwater harvesting system in almost all buildings in most-vulnerable areas like near ISKCON Temple in Nayapalli, which cause untold hardships to the denizens during monsoon. Later, all buildings in low-lying areas in the city, in phase-wise, must install the facility to ease urban flooding,” BDA Vice-Chairman Prem Chandra Chaudhary said.

The BDA and BMC will not issue occupancy certificate if an apartment developer or individual house owner does not follow rain water harvesting norms.

Surprise visits will be undertaken by both the bodies to check violations.