NOC exemption for Pindi utility connections
Utility. PHOTO: EXPRESS
The development authority of the garrison city has done away with the condition of acquiring clearance for utility connections.
The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has exempted owners of individual plots from obtaining the authority’s no-objection certificate (NOC) for new utility connections in its controlled areas, officials said.
However, the restriction has been upheld for the sponsors of unapproved private housing schemes.
In this regard, the RDA Metropolitan Planning and Traffic Engineering Director Shehzad Haider sent a letter to the Islamabad Electric Supply Company chief executive on Thursday. The utility’s chief was apprised that individual plot holders seeking a new power connection in RDA controlled areas could be given it without a certificate of civic agency. However, unapproved housing schemes would still require RDA’s NOC for acquiring a new connection.
Moreover, RDA has advised the citizens to stop making investments in illegal housing schemes. Data of authorised and unauthorised housing societies is a click away on RDA’s website. There are 79 illegal housing schemes in the jurisdiction of RDA.
People lured by low rates, invest their savings in illegal housing projects, only to be caught up in legal issues surrounding unfinished schemes.
Illegal construction goes unchecked under RMC
Illegal construction continues unchecked in areas under the control of Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation (RMC). Residents of various areas of Rawalpindi told The Express Tribune that builders erect illegal structures with connivance of RMC officers.
The alleged connivance or criminal negligence of the RMC building control department is proving to be heavy on the exchequer too, officials said. The illegal buildings, both residential and commercial, are regularised by RMC after the imposition of fines once they are identified by citizens or high-ups. Old buildings are demolished and new are constructed on the same plots without following any legal formalities.
One such errant structure was identified by The Express Tribune on Tauhidi Road in the Dhok Ratta area. Earlier, there existed an old building that was demolished and has now been replaced by a residential building with four shops on the ground floor.
Zafarul Haq Road, Glass Factory Chowk, Haq Nawaz Road, and dozens of other locations in the city demonstrate the same picture. The construction of errant structures has created difficulties for the locals of the areas too.
An official of the RMC building department said that notices are taken initially against illegal structures, however, the establishments are later regularised.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2020.