THRISSUR: It appears that yet another monsoon has gone to waste as the state government and local body authorities have been reluctant to enforce the provisions for rainwater harvesting in buildings in the Kerala Municipal Building Rules (KMBR) and Kerala Panchayat Building Rules (KPBR). The officials in the local bodies have openly disregarded the rules and are only keen to make a quick buck.
In an investigation carried out by ‘Express’, about 90 percent grama panchayats in the state have defied the guidelines that state rain water harvesting system and recharging facility as mandatory for all types of buildings.
Though rainwater harvesting was made compulsory for all buildings and provisions were incorporated in the KMBR since December 2004 and the KPBR in 2013, local body authorities have been bypassing the rules by effectively colluding with the building owner who hires a rainwater harvesting system for a sum of Rs 500-1,000 during the time of inspection and returns the system once the formalities are over.
The concerned overseer who is responsible for conducting the inspection is also given a purse carrying Rs 1,000-1,500 (the amount varies depending on the nature of local bodies) by the building owner.
In short, the system introduced by the state government to tackle the perennial drinking water shortage and depleting ground water table is effectively undermined by the local body authorities for a total sum of mere Rs 2,000-3,000. When this issue came to light, ‘Express’ sought the number of rain water harvesting systems set up in panchayats as part of a random survey conducted through RTI queries.
In reply to one such RTI query at Karalam panchayat near here, the secretary of the panchayat denied to share the number of rain water harvesting systems in its limit, saying they do not keep any records in this regard.
However, when ‘Express’ submitted another query asking how many buildings with a plinth area of 150 M2 were given plot number for which rain water harvesting system is mandatory, the secretary replied that 153 buildings were given plot number as per KPBR.
This is not an isolated case, with around 90 per cent local bodies in the state flouting the rule the same way.
When ‘Express’ brought the issue to the attention of joint director (administration) of directorate of panchayat, C N Babu, he said the state government will have to frame a strict policy-based rule to stop the practice of belittling the building rules at grassroot level as the current KPBR and KMBR rules have no provision to punish the offenders. And, sadly, there is no monitoring mechanism to inspect the level of violation of rules at the local body level, he said.
Jose C Raphel of Mazhapolima, a community-based and decentralised well recharge programme, said as per the rule, exemptions were given only to buildings with thatched roofs and cases such as water-logging or impermeable subsoil conditions to considerable depths. The inefficiency of the local self government department in enforcing the rule has resulted in a section of government officials using the rule as a tool to make some money, he said.