Pay for power infrastructure upgrade, Sushant Lok 1 residents told

GURUGRAM: Discom DHBVN has written to residents of Sushant Lok 1 over power infrastructure “inadequacies” on part of the builder in the colony. In the letter, which was sent on Wednesday, the discom asked residents to pay the charges for upgrading existing infrastructure by Thursday. Meanwhile, residents said they had already paid the charges to the builder when they purchased their plots.

DHBVN stated that it was trying to get the requisite infrastructure installed on the assumption that it will recover the external development charges (EDC) and external development charges (IDC) that residents paid to the builder. The letter, a copy of which is with TOI, says since Ansal, the developer, told DHBVN that no EDC/IDC was recovered from residents, the amount for developing infrastructure will have to be taken from them.

According to the discom, Sushant Lok 1 doesn’t have the infrastructure to meet its current power demand. Ansal needs to build two 66kV substations and five 33kV substations across its colonies. Citing the Electricity Act, the letter states, “a minimum level of infrastructure including construction of substation, if any, was to be developed by your builder or residents themselves being the beneficiaries. There is a lot of inadequate electrical infrastructure…in your area… DHBVN has been fighting it out.”

Discom officials said “this was the only way”. DHBVN superintending engineer KC Aggarwal said, “Every builder will have to get the requisite infrastructure constructed. When we ask the developer, they told us that residents haven’t paid the money to them. We are asking residents to tell us why it hasn’t been paid.”

Meanwhile, residents said they have already paid the amount to Ansal. “We will take the matter to consumer court. We have already paid the amount to developer at the time of purchasing the plots,” said Neelu Sharma, a resident.

Despite repeated attempts by TOI, Ansal couldn’t be reached for a comment.