Residents of buildings without occupancy certificates to pay double for water: BMC

As per rough estimates, there are around 56,000 buildings in the city that do not have OCs, but are occupied by owners or tenants.

According to civic norms, flat owners cannot live in a flat until it has been given an OC from the building proposals department of the BMC. Buildings without OCs are not given a water connection and are charged a higher property tax. However, the BMC has now decided not to cut water connections but to charge twice the current rate from flat owners.

“The main culprit here are the builders and developers. They do not procure the OC and give possession to flat owners, which causes a lot of difficulties. To prevent this, we along with the state government are working on framing a policy. If possession is taken without abiding by the development control rules, the Municipal Act, action will be taken against related developers, architects and the people occupying the flat,” said a senior BMC official.

Currently, there are 24 criteria that need to be fulfilled to get an OC, which include meeting the prescribed safety norms and ensuring zero violations during construction.

The official added, “We are not disconnecting water supply on humanitarian grounds. However, we want residents and tenants to pressurise the builders and developers to get OCs. This is being done by charging them double for water.”