Dabua Colony in Faridabad’s New Industrial Town (NIT) is among the most populous residential colonies in Haryana with an estimated population of three lakh.
Though the colony is mostly regularised, around two-thirds of the water connections there are illegal.
Superintending Engineer, MCF, Bikram Kardam conceded that more than one lakh water connections in Faridabad were suspected to be illegal. He said that though 2,73,000 units paid property tax, only around 1,40,000 had a legal water connection.
Mr. Kardam added that a survey was under way and those with illegal connections were being served notices by the respective executive engineers. “After the serving of the notices, water connections of those who fail to procure regular connections will be disconnected,” said Mr. Kardam.
Underscoring how the menace of illegal water connections goes unchecked by the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad, ex-serviceman Rishi Pal Chaudhary, a Dabua colony resident, called himself a “fool” for having procured a legal water connection a decade ago.
“People have illegal water connections from the pipeline laid by the municipal corporation and are using water for free for almost a decade. I was a fool to have taken a legal connection,” said Mr. Chaudhary (67).
Spread across three municipal wards – 8, 9 and 10 – Dabua has a large number of small-scale industrial units running from houses without licences. Though these units have power connections, they draw water illegally from the municipal pipelines, Jaspal Singh, who runs one such unit, said, adding: “I never felt the need to take a water connection.”
Similarly, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Nagar, locally known as SGM Nagar, also in the NIT area, has a large number of illegal water connections, with the residents drawing water from the pipelines laid by the municipal corporation.
Raju, a physically challenged grocery shop owner, said that he had been staying in the colony for around ten years and had been using water without a legal connection. “Why should I apply for a connection, when I am getting water without a legal connection?” he retorted when asked if he had ever applied for one. He claimed that almost one-fourth of the water connections in the colony could be illegal.
Gulshan Gaba, running a small industrial bags unit in Gali No.10, said that there were around 150-odd tubewells installed by the MCF in the colony and a majority of the water connections were illegal. However, a portion of the SGM Nagar, falling under ward no.17, which is regularised, has regular water and sewer connections.
“Several areas of SGM Nagar, including Gali No.10, are unauthorised. A survey was conducted five years ago and again a month back. We hope the remaining areas will also be regularised soon,” said Mr. Gaba.
He added there were around a 1,000 small and medium industrial units in SGM Nagar that mostly make automotive parts.
Laxmi Chand, a 61-year-old tea stall owner, said a majority of the houses did not even have sewer connections and most of the people had dug up pits to make up for it. He also did not have a legal water connection.
“Getting a legal water connection costs around ₹2,000. I cannot afford it. So, I took an illegal connection from the municipal corporation pipeline running close to my house,” said Laxmi Chand, with a grin.
Though Jawahar Colony, with a population of around 1 lakh, mostly have legal water connections, illegal connections are rampant in the neighbouring Parvatia Colony and Sanjay Colony with a majority of the population being daily-wager migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
