Chennai: The state govt has exempted people living on poromboke land from getting a no-objection certificate (NOC) from govt departments to get an electricity connection. However, they must fulfil certain criteria, including the house size, payment of necessary charges as well as an undertaking that they are aware they could be evicted at any time.The GO dated Sept 16, issued by the energy department, said houses built on lands classified as water course, mandaiveli, and meikal poromboke, as well as lands belonging to temples, cantonment, railways, and forest departments, will not be eligible for electricity services.Also, the houses built on permitted poromboke lands should not exceed 250sqft in built-up area. “Until now, these houses needed an NOC from the authority concerned for getting power supply. This has been done away now as there is a huge pendency of such applications,” said an official. In the written undertaking, the applicant should state that the new electricity service does not confer any right on the land on which they have built the house and that they are liable to be evicted and to have power supply disconnected if the govt requires the land.The GO has made it clear that the section officer concerned should inspect and ensure that applicants under the LT-1A(3) category have not built houses on prohibited poromboke or other categories of land before effecting the service. The chairman and managing director of TNPDCL should also submit a district and taluk-wise status report of such services to the govt every three months and ensure that the facility is not misused.These connections will be classified as a separate consumer category — low tension – 1A (3) — to distinguish them from the regular domestic category, though they would be charged the same tariff as the domestic category (LT-1A). “The billing software is being updated to accommodate such services, and the information technology team is working on processing such applications online. These connections require double the security deposit. Other charges for this consumer category are also being worked out,” added the official.
