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 solar panels on their rooftops to generate electricity, it emerged on Friday.
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 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.
Authority asks house owners to either remove ‘the violation’ or get it regularised, by regularized means by paying huge sums to DHA.
“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 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.
