Recently, the Huda has decided to give occupation certificates (OC) only to those constructions that have functional rainwater harvesting wells, and officers are asked to stringently monitor it before allotting the occupation certificate.

The order came into being after a meeting attended by Principal Secretary of Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) in August.

The concerned officials have been asked to prepare lists of all rainwater harvesting wells on plots carved out in urban estates across Haryana, and submit the list to the office of Town Planners and the State Government’s engineering cell.

Executive engineers will have to comment in their reports about functional rain harvesting pits dug on every 200-sq-yard plots. A recent investigation has publicized that there is no record of such properties with the engineering cell as occupation and completion are issued by estate officers at their level.

In October 2001, Huda had issued a notice, declaring that a detailed proposal of the harvesting system comprising the collection, transportation, and distribution of water from rooftop to pits will have to be shown in building plans submitted to the approval bureau.

According to the guidelines, any engineer who is below the rank of a Huda executive engineer will not have the commands to inspect the system.

It has been instructed that any completion and occupation certificates will now be issued only after the complete report of harvesting well is submitted by the executive engineer.