Pending power connections: DK Shivakumar hints at policy move

Bengaluru: Deputy CM D K Shivakumar told the Assembly that the government was considering a policy intervention to help citizens who constructed homes illegally and were unable to obtain power & water connections due to a Supreme Court ruling. 

Responding to a calling-attention motion, he said the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission had written to Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh on ensuring compliance with the SC order that buildings without plan sanction and occupancy certificate should not be given power and water connections. 

"The government is firm. We won't allow illegal constructions. But some poor people built homes even before (SC order)," he said. 

"We are thinking of relaxing setbacks within the law or providing exemptions. Approvals for single plots & small areas, we are coming up with this in next Cabinet meeting," he said.