Plans for better STP in apartments
On November 26th, a meeting was arranged at the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) Chairman’s office, Church Street, Bangalore to discuss ideas of new implementations to be brought into action, eradicating the current Sewage Treatment Plans (STP) at all the apartments in Karnataka.
During the commence of meeting Dr. Ananth S. Kodavasal, Director of Ecotech Engineering Consultancy Pvt. Ltd in conversation with Commonfloor said, “Common residents should be aware of the STP plan and also the procedures involved in the process of STP their apartment follows.
Henceforth, the current STP should be formalized to make it more familiar to the builders, residents and also the managing committee.” The committee proposed two major plans to KSPCB:
Plan One: Revising CFO fee structure
The managing committee experts say, the CFO fees collected at present is going un-noticed are to be fared enough. BWSSB should not be burdened with higher CFO fee; instead the residents, builders and BWSSB should be equally contributing to the fee structure.
Plan Two: STP handover from one builder to apartment associations
At present builder seems to be constructing the building and walking away handing over the STP formalities to apartment associations. This is where the experts say lot of confusion is happening.
So, to keep things in track, managing committee experts say, transferring should be formalized and the apartment associations should keep track of the STP followed by the previous builder and the present one in a formal way.
Mr. Nagesh, managing committee member along with Dr. Ananth S. Kodavasal presented these plans in front of KSPCB Chairman A S Sadashivaiah during the meeting.
Mr. Nagesh in an exclusive interview with Commonfloor said, “Routinely the STP norms are being violated by the builders and they are faking the STP work-flow to KSPCB.” Therefore norm needs to be made stricter! They are too lenient. STP is purely contract based and is also certified by regulated bodies.”
Also he said, “to stop faking the STP procedures, KSPCB should make occupancy certificate (OC) as mandatory. Residents in the apartments should feel free and lodge complaints in concern with any such issues and these measures are sure to reveal the helpful face of KSPCB.”
After patiently listening to the proposals from the Managing Committee (MC) and issues by the apartment association members (who also equally participated in the meeting), KSPCB Chairman A S Sadashivaiah appreciating the plan proposers replied back saying, “People who are highly motivated are always welcome by KSPCB to provide any suggestions.”
“Basic idea of KSPCB is to bring in a revolutionary change in the current STP’s and agreement between the residents and the builders. I request all the builders to keep possessions of their project at least for a span of five years from the time of construction, to lay down proper foundations of STP at their respective apartments.”
However, when asked about the lakhs of fees collected from the red color coded areas, he replied saying “ I would like to close my eyes for this question on behalf of KSPCB and I am not in the state to give constant answer as the question is drastically bringing down our fame. Meanwhile I would just like to say that the side effects prevail behind the collection of CFO fee structures.”
But he also promised saying “Before implementing the plan proposed by management committee members, I will be sending a team of three from KSPCB to random apartments across the state as a surprise visit to check the current conditions of STP’s. Soon after the visit, based on the plus and minus factors we will be discussing on revising the CFO fee structure”.
KSPCB Chairman called off the meeting by promising all the residents of providing fruitful benefits in future. Although KSPCB meeting served the purpose of highlighting the drawbacks, the much awaited results are still kept pending!
By: Commonfloor Editorial
Apartment associations, Apartments in Karnataka, Bangalore, Builders, BWSSB, CFO fees, Church Street, Common residents, CommonFloor, Construction, Contract based, Ecotech Engineering Consultancy, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), KSPCB, KSPCB Chairman, Managing Committee (MC), Occupancy certificate (OC), Regulated bodies, Residents, STP formalities, STP norms, STP plan, STP work-flow
