BENGALURU: Despite rain water harvesting (RWH) made mandatory in houses and commercial establishment and fines imposed every month, 58,658 buildings in the City have not bothered to put these structures in place.The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has collected over `20 crore as fine ever since the levy of penalty for non-compliance commenced in August 2016. All new buildings which are 30x40 square feet and above and old buildings which are 40x60 square feet and above need to install these structures as per the final gazette notification issued in February 2016.
“As per our assessment, a total of 1,54,328 buildings in the City must install RWH. Out of these, 95,670 buildings have installed them so far. We had levied around `28 crore penalty and the amount paid so far by defaulters is over `20 crore. For the month of April alone, we have imposed `3,06,89,589 as penalty. Fifty percent of the penalty levied has been paid so far,” Kemparamaiah, Engineer-in-Chief (EIC), BWSSB, told The New Indian Express.
In case of houses, 50% of the bill amount on water and sanitary charges is levied while the penalty is 100% of the bill amount in the case of commercial buildings. “In case of non-payment of the fines too, an interest rate of 1.66% on the RWH penalty levied would be charged,” he added. These fines are reflected in the monthly water bills. The cost of installation of these structures ranges between `5,000 and `50,000 depending on the dimensions of the building and the size of the structures created.
On the reasons for non-implementation, Kemparamaiah said lack of space to create recharge pits and install synthetic tankers was a common reason cited by many house owners. The water bill amount is not considered very high and paying an additional amount over it is not something that many owners pay much importance to, he explained. There is no real water scarcity in Bengaluru like in some parched cities across the State, the EIC observed. “Hence, there is no desperation to save every drop of water and conserve it for future use,” he added.
What you should know
All new buildings which are 30x40 sqft and above and old buildings which are 40x60 sqft and above need to install these structures. BWSSB has collected D20 crore as fine ever since the levy of penalty for non-compliance commenced in August 2016. In case of non-payment, an interest rate of 1.66% on the RWH penalty levied would be charged. Cost of installation of these structures ranges between D5,000 and D50,000.