850 water, sewer connections unauthorised in Block 29
Besides finding as many as 850 water/sewer connections illegal, the inspection also found that as many as 1,940 property owners were just paying charges for water and no fee was paid under the sewer charges head.
After finding over 700 illegal connections during the cross-checking of water and sewer connections in Block number 29, the property tax wing is now checking water/sewer bills for detecting the violators, who had submitted fees under the incorrect category for evading the fee.
Besides finding as many as 850 water/sewer connections illegal, the inspection also found that as many as 1,940 property owners were just paying charges for water and no fee was paid under the sewer charges head.
These defaulters were found during the checking of only around 2,800 properties out of a total 54,000 properties in the block.
It has also come to the fore that many property owners are submitting fees/charges under the incorrect category.
For example, charges are being paid for a residential building while a factory is being at that site. Cross-checking is also being done to check the same by comparing water/sewer bills with property tax returns.
Earlier in mid-July, mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu had ordered the cross-checking of water/sewer connections in the block after the MC had found 54,000 properties under the
GIS-based property survey in Block 29 and only 18,000 had proper water/sewer connections, including the 11,000 exempted properties.
It is the responsibility of the Operations and Maintenance Cell to check illegal connections and the mayor had ordered the wing to cross-check the same. Block 29 includes areas starting from the Sherpur chowk up to the MC limits on the Delhi road (right hand side area).
The ward of deputy mayor Sarvjit Kaur also falls under the block.
Superintendent, property tax, Vivek Verma, said, “A penalty of over ₹48 lakh has been recovered against over 700 illegal water/sewer connections, which have been found by the department during cross-checking. Bills for the past years have also been sent to the defaulters, who were only paying water charges.”
“If the defaulters failed to pay the penalty or submit the pending dues, their water/sewer connections will be snapped and regular notices are being served by the department,” said Verma.
