Civic body to regularize illegal water connections

LUDHIANA: In order to keep a tab on illegal water connections, the municipal corporation has decided to regularize them for which they have started preparing a list of such connections. TOI had also highlighted the matter of illegal water connections in the colonies through a news report published on July 22.



Though orders had been issued for the entire city, officials had started the initiative from Zone D where they had prepared a list of 207 connections. Following the readying of list, officials were now attaching the house numbers to these connections with the help of house tax department. The colonies that have been identified are Ajit Nagar, Vijay Nagar and New Deep Nagar near Surya Theatre. As per the officials, only in Haibowal, there were more than 3,000 illegal water connections and most had been installed in courtyards.



Sources said MC employees would visit these colonies within a week with the house numbers and collect Rs 1,350 from them in the form of MC charges for taking water connections. After six months, the authorities could also start sending them water bills.



Where on one hand, it would provide monetary benefits to MC, it would also help them in curbing the practice of illegal connections. Residents, especially in the outer wards, hire private plumbers and take the water connection from anywhere but do not care about its repair resulting in the mixing of the water.



XEN operation and maintenance Manjit Singh said following the orders from MC they had prepared list of the illegal connections and now they would be regularized. He said that though there was a provision of registering an FIR against the defaulters, it results only in legal procedures, which are not useful for the corporation and through this method both the purposes would be solved as they would curb illegal connections and income increase.
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