Govt alters rules to give electricity connections without OC

This comes as a major relief to more than five lakh building owners who are struggling to get electricity connections without Occupancy Certificates

In a major relief to more than five lakh building owners who are struggling to get electricity connections without Occupancy Certificates (OC), the energy department decided to change the rules and give them power connections.

Energy Minister V Sunil Kumar will soon give them electricity connections.

D K Shivakumar, the energy minister in the previous Congress regime, ordered not to give power connections to buildings citing violation of building bylaws and deviation from the sanctioned building plan.

Left in the lurch, property owners had been venting their ire against the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the energy department for the past five years.

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Considering the inconvenience to the owners, a delegation of BJP MLAs from Bengaluru recently met Minister Sunil Kumar and urged him to change the rules requiring an OC to get a power connection.

The minister subsequently discussed the issue with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and obtained his consent to provide the electricity connections.

A file on the decision was also sent to the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on March 22 and the minister held a high-level meeting with energy department officials on Wednesday in Bengaluru.

Department officials led by the minister resolved to provide electricity connections, which coincides with the implementation of the popular ‘Belaku’ programme to electrify rural households without power.

Confirming the decision, Kumar said: “We had received several complaints from building owners who were deprived of a power connection for not possessing an OC certificate. A few MLAs from Bengaluru had also met me and briefed me about the situation. Very soon, the government will issue an official order announcing power connections to buildings without an OC certificate.”

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