Ranchi Municipal Corporation has allowed a one month grace period to property owners to follow its instructions of having rainwater harvesting system installed in their buildings.
“House owners without a water harvesting system in their premises will have to pay 1.5 times the holding tax. But since the project is about promoting the practice and not exacting penalties, taxpayers will have the entire month of May to install the system and factor it in their holding tax self-assessment,” stated Municipal Commissioner Prashant Kumar during a press conference on Saturday.
The project will be implemented in three phases, informed Kumar. “Firstly, we will inform people about rainwater harvesting system and the parameters they have to follow while installing it. Next, we will rope in public and private bodies to motivate people to willingly take up rainwater harvesting. last phase will be enforcement,” he said.
As per the action plan formulated to implement the scheme, three models of water harvesting projects and their costs have been ascertained. Model-A has been stipulated for buildings in plots lesser than 3,000 sqaure feet, Model-B for G+2 buildings in plot above 3,000 square feet and Model-C in buildings with three or more floors and built in an area more than 3,000 square feet.
RMC has also floated tenders to empanel agencies for installing rainwater harvesting system in houses of Ranchi. The agencies will be selected within seven days, after which a ceiling for their charges will the determined by the urban local body.
“The cost of constructing a Model-A system through the empanelled agencies has been pegged at Rs 15,000, that for Model-B at Rs 44,000 and the same for Model-C Rs 82,000. If dead bores or wells are used then Rs 15,000 can be saved in Model-B and Rs 38,000 in Model-C. People can have the system installed for less if they find an agency of their own,” said the Municipal Commissioner.