While the federal government is encouraging people to generate power through alternative energy sources to cut dependence on costly fuel, the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) has sent notices and imposed financial penalties on many of its residents for “violation” of its building control regulations by installing rooftop solar panels on their rooftops to generate electricity,
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had okayed a 10,000 MW solar energy project to reduce reliance on costly imported diesel, furnace oil and LNG for power generation. The PM had also removed the 17 per cent general sales tax on solar panel to encourage businesses and households to opt for solar energy. However, there is growing unease among DHA residents at the authority’s decision to send them notices and impose fines for allegedly violating its construction laws by installing elevated steel structures for rooftop solar panels on their rooftops. The residents are also surprised that the DHA, which itself allowed them to install solar panels, is now threatening to penalise them. It is quite a strange and unexpected development because there are so many houses in DHA with solar panels on their rooftops. They were not questioned about this earlier, in fact encouraged. Now all of a sudden they are expected to cough up refurbishment charges that may amount to hundreds of thousands of rupees,” said Rashid H. Ansari, a resident. “It seems like a trap where first they let you walk into an entrance and then shut all exits for you because they wanted you caught. Every second house here has solar panels and it’s been like this for over five or six years.
Now suddenly this is an issue for DHA,” he said. “They want us to get their permission for installing rooftop solar panels. And to get permission, there are certain conditions such as getting our memberships reviewed or renewed, paying of refurbishment charges, getting approval from architects and engineers who must also happen to be on their panel. Now we also have to pay these engineers their fee, which is no less than Rs100,000 to Rs200,000,” the resident informed. Questioning what he called DHA’s chaudhrahat, another resident, Younus Siddiqui, said: “They are the masters of all they survey. They can do as they please. It’s their monopoly. They say that installing solar panels on our rooftops is altering the architectural structure of the houses. So it is being seen as a modification of the building, which requires approval from the relevant authority.” “This is nothing. A cousin of mine, who is also a resident of DHA, was even penalised for putting a green garden shade mesh to block the sun in his driveway. They said that it was because he had built a steel frame for it. The DHA pulls you up for everything,” he said, adding that recently after the flooding they were allowed by DHA to repair and rebuild their homes without having to pay them any refurbishment charges.
Source: This news is originally published by dawn