In the course of a door-to-door survey to regularise illegal water-sewer connections under the one-time settlement policy, civic body teams detected around 11,000 illegal connections in the last 15 days.
Around 2,300 connections were detected in Zone A, 3,447 in Zone B, 2,600 in Zone C and 2,600 in Zone D. Officials say the survey will go on till Wednesday evening, and more such connections will be detected. Over ₹50 lakh has been recovered from violators for regularising the connections under the OTS policy.
The mayor had ordered a door-to-door survey in the city on November 9 after the OTS policy garnered a poor response. Under the OTS policy floated by the state government on August 25, residents could get their connections regularised at nominal rates (less than 10% of the regular fee) till Wednesday. Now, residents will have to pay a 100 % penalty on the concessional fee imposed under the policy, if they get the connection regularised till February 24. After that, normal rates will be applicable.
Under the policy, residents were also given a chance to submit their pending water-sewer arrears without interest and penalty till Wednesday. The policy said that no penalty or interest will be charged on principal amount if the payment of pending user charges is made within three months (till November 24) of the notification, while only penalty will be waived off if the amount is paid after three months but within six months (till February 24). After six months, the user will have to pay both penalty and interest on the pending amount and the connection will also be disconnected on non-payment of dues.
{{/usCountry}}Under the policy, residents were also given a chance to submit their pending water-sewer arrears without interest and penalty till Wednesday. The policy said that no penalty or interest will be charged on principal amount if the payment of pending user charges is made within three months (till November 24) of the notification, while only penalty will be waived off if the amount is paid after three months but within six months (till February 24). After six months, the user will have to pay both penalty and interest on the pending amount and the connection will also be disconnected on non-payment of dues.
{{/usCountry}}Superintending engineer,Rajinder Singh said residents can still get their connections regularised under the policy, as even after imposing 100% penalty, the fee is far less than the normal fee for getting the connections regularised.