Power dept stops new connections to 16 colonies that lack infrastructure

The managing director of the distribution company, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), PC Meena confirmed the developments in this regard and said that a meeting will be held with developers next week to resolve the issue

The power distribution company on Wednesday said that on July 2, it stopped issuing electricity connections to 16 housing societies and colonies where developers have not built the requisite power infrastructure.

All 16 are developed projects and are occupied by residents, said officials. (HT Archive)

The managing director of the distribution company, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), PC Meena confirmed the developments in this regard and said that a meeting will be held with developers next week to resolve the issue.

All 16 are developed projects and are occupied by residents, said officials.

“No fresh elections connections to few privately developed colonies are being given because these builders have not created adequate power infrastructure. It is the responsibility of the developers to create distribution infrastructure inside the colonies. The connections were stopped because, despite repeated directions, the developers did not take corrective action,” said PC Meena, the newly appointed managing director of DHBVN, who took charge on August 1.

“We don’t want homebuyers or residents to suffer but the developers will have to follow the rules. This matter will be resolved soon,” Meena said.

Pradeep Kumar Chauhan, superintending engineer, Gurugram circle II, said that fresh connections were stopped in these colonies on July 2 as developers failed to create requisite infrastructure despite repeated notices. “We have been asking these developers to build the necessary electricity infrastructure since 2013 but it has not happened. We continued to issue fresh connections till last month. The developers will have to do the needful,” he said.

DHBVN officials also said that in several cases, developers were misusing the temporary connections that were issued for construction purposes.

A senior DHBVN official based in Gurugram, wishing not to be identified, said that the recently Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission questioned the department about the issuance of electricity connections despite the lack of adequate electricity infrastructure.

A large number of residents have also repeatedly taken to social media platforms to complain about the issue. The buyers/builders in these colonies are not getting temporary connections for constructions and the process of getting a temporary connection after depositing money for transformers has also stopped, they alleged.