Gurugram: Takeover in two weeks, seven realtors yet to pay Rs 88 crore to DHBVN

GURUGRAM: The developers of seven out of nine private colonies which will be taken over by
MCG by June 15 are yet to pay nearly Rs 87.8 crore to DHBVN for
electrical infrastructure deficiencies, according to the discom. The developers also need to pay
Rs 92 crore to MCG for deficient civic infrastructure.
While Ardee City and Rosewood City have no dues for electrical infrastructure, Malibu Towne,
Sushant Lok-2 and 3, Mayfield Garden, Greenwood City, Vipul Gardens and Uppal
Southend are yet to pay up. Among these colonies, Sushant Lok-2 has the maximum dues – Rs
19.6 crore.
While an order issued by the department of town and country planning (DTCP) on May 9 stated
that it will recover Rs 92 crore from the developers and give the funds to MCG for the takeover,
the order is silent on the recovery of electrical infrastructure dues.

The order only states that the builders will have to deposit the necessary amount to DHBVN for
the deficient infrastructure in these colonies.
Discom officials, meanwhile, said that they will take up the maintenance of the electrical
infrastructure in these colonies with the developers but residents of these colonies who want
new connections will have to pay a hefty amount since the developers have not paid their dues.
The full amount will be refunded once the developers clear their dues, officials said.
DHBVN stopped providing new connections to 16 private colonies from July 2021 because the
developers didn’t build the required power infrastructure even after repeated notices issued to
them since 2013. In February 2022, Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commissioner (HERC)
directed DHBVN to release new electricity connections on voluntary payment of development
charges.
As a result, if a resident of Malibu Towne wishes to apply for a new electricity connection of
12kV, they will have to pay Rs 2.3 lakh as the development charge per kV for Malibu Towne is
Rs 19,029. The development charge in Uppal Southend is as high as Rs 45,306 per kV, so a
12kV connection will cost residents Rs 5.4 lakh. This is, despite the fact that the residents have
already paid external and internal development charges (EDC and IDC) when they bought a
property in these colonies.

“Among the nine private colonies, the dues of seven developers amount to nearly Rs 88 crore.
Ardee City and Rosewood have already cleared their dues. We are giving new connections in
these colonies, provided the residents pay up the development charge. When the builder
deposits the amount required, residents will get a refund. We are not issuing any new
connections for builders with pending charges,” said PK Chauhan, DHBVN superintendent
engineer-2.
Residents, meanwhile, said since deficient electrical infrastructure isn’t included in the DTCP
order, the takeover by MCG will be “incomplete” as no government agency would maintain
power infrastructure.
“Suncity was taken over by MCG in March 2019. One of our transformers was damaged in
September 2019. DHBVN didn’t take the responsibility for it and the residents had to shell out
money from their pockets to install a new transformer. So even though MCG has taken over
civic infrastructure, our power infrastructure hasn’t been taken over by any government agency
on the ground level,” said VK Singh, a resident of Suncity.
“MCG’s takeover of nine plotted colonies seems half-hearted due to the omission of the
completion of electricity infrastructure in these areas. The developers have already collected
large amounts of money from residents as EDC and IDC. DTCP shouldn’t have issued
occupation certificates until they had provided the requisite civic and electric infrastructure,” said
Lalit Suraj Bhola, a member of United Gurgaon RWA, an umbrella body of several residents’
bodies.
He added, “When illegal colonies are regularised, it’s the administration that bears the cost of
civic and electric infrastructure. It is highly condemnable on the part of the government to
subject the residents of planned colonies to pay again if the developers don’t pay EDC.”