Tribune News Service

Faridabad, November 12
Efforts of the Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) to regularise the illegal water and sewer connections and mop up revenue from the exercise have failed to make an impact.

The structures which have illegal connections continue to enjoy the facilities of the corporation. Consequently, they are not only cheating on the government by not paying a penny as end-users, they are also poaching on the utilities at the cost of law-abiding citizens.

The lacklustre response of the defaulters to the drive is attributed to the interference by local politicians who do not want to antagonise themselves, apparently on account of vote-bank politics.

Although the municipal body has no record, there are at least 1 lakh illegal connections in the city.

The figure, however, does not take into account the areas where the corporation has not been able to lay water pipe and sewerage lines.

The corporation launched a scheme to give rebate on installation charges if water and sewer connections were sought simultaneously.

Camps are being organised where the public could come forward and complete the formalities regarding the installations water and sewer connections.

As per the scheme, an owner of 100 sq ft property would have to pay Rs 2,200 as installation charges if he opts for simultaneous connections. However, if the installations are sought separately, the total charge would be around Rs 3,500. However, the rebate differs as per the size of properties.

Zonal Taxation Officer of the corporation Balbir Singh said in the camps held at various centres of the city from April to June, only 4,000 water and sewer connections were sought.

The corporation collected about Rs 78 lakh as revenue from the exercise.

The camps are being organised again from the last week, but the response from the public remains tepid.

Sources said even though the corporation had taken a policy decision to regularise the connections through the incentive scheme, it was not strict against the defaulters.

Also, it has not set a deadline for the regularisation of the illegal connections.