In order to give a boost to rainwater harvesting (RWH), the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to give a rebate in property tax as an incentive to buildings and housing societies who set up RWH systems.
The BMC proposes to award points to residential buildings that have adopted eco-friendly measures and thereby give an incentive in the form of rebate on property taxes. “There’s already a provision in the new capital Property Tax amendment, that property tax rebate will be awarded to housing societies that go green. So, we have proposed that for every ten points that a housing society is awarded, it gets a 10 per cent rebate. If it fulfills all 30 points, there will be a 20 per cent rebate given on property tax. The rules are under formulation,” said Anil Diggikar, additional municipal commissioner.
“We have already prepared a criterion for discount, depending on the points a building earns,” Diggikar said. The important features considered for buildings and housing societies are rainwater harvesting, grey water recycling plants, solid water management, segregation of organic and non-organic waste, creating manure from waste etc.
The main objective of making rainwater mandatory in all buildings is to recharge groundwater and augment overall water availability. This measure will ensure that rainwater is tapped and directed to recharge groundwater or stored for direct consumption by occupants of the buildings. “Although RWH has been made mandatory for new buildings, it isn’t gaining momentum the way it should and there is no monitoring agency to track its implementation,” said a civic official.
However, the government intends to bring the eco-housing policy for new constructions into effect from April1, 2010.
