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GDA drafts rules to charge builders for water used during construction
Soon, developers in the district will have to pay for water used during construction of housing projects. The Ghaziabad development authority (GDA) officials, on
Soon, developers in the district will have to pay for water used during construction of housing projects. The Ghaziabad development authority (GDA) officials, on Monday said, process has been initiated for finalising rules based on which developers would be charged for supply of piped water and for stacking construction material on government land. Officials said that a meeting with the state administration for a final presentation is due Tuesday in Lucknow.
Officials said there has been rampant use of groundwater and there is a need to check this. “After the rules get finalised, developers will have to pay for water used during the construction of their projects,” GDA chief architect and town planner Asheesh Shivpuri said.
“The provision is in place but the rules had not been formed. The rules will define the charges and the manner in which the amount will be ascertained on the basis of covered area. The developers will have to pay specified charges at the time of submitting layout map. There are different agencies which check usage of groundwater, but GDA will now start charging fee for groundwater usage,” he said.
According to UP government’s yet to-be-released report ‘Dynamic Groundwater Resources Assessment, 2017’, Ghaziabad features in the list of at least eight districts where groundwater extraction is above 100% vis-à-vis the total annual groundwater recharge.
Districts with more than 100% groundwater extraction are Agra (107.50%), Amroha (104.50%), Firozabad (111.39), Gautam Buddh Nagar (109.66%), Ghaziabad (128.36%), Hapur (107.34%), Saharanpur (119.9%) and Shamli (109.265).
According to the 2019 groundwater report by the UP groundwater department, 28 localities under the ‘city assessment unit’ witnessed a decline from 20.31 metres below ground level (mbgl) in 2013 (post monsoon) to 26.97 mbgl (post monsoon) in year 2018.
“The rules for the other charges for stacking construction material will also be finalised. The charges are ₹40 per square metres on the basis of covered area of the plot. Once the final presentation is made the rules will be finalised and we will be able to recover these within our jurisdiction. The corporation already recovers such charges in their jurisdiction area,” Shivpuri said.
