The central government has given its recommendations, for amendments to the Delhi Master Plan, which include uniform Floor Area Ratio (FAR), shifting of pubs, clubs and restaurants from residential areas and augmentation of infrastructure services such as water and sewage, by concerned service providing agencies. “Outdoor unit of air-conditioning shall in no case extrude from the plot line/or to be placed on the rooftop. Exhaust ducts shall not open directly towards the public lane or face the other residential plot. Restaurants, clubs, pubs shall not be allowed in the residential premises, as part of mixed use,” union urban development minister Hardeep Singh Puri said.
See also: Centre to file reply in SC justifying provision protecting sealing
The recommendations finalised after deliberations with the traders, residents welfare associations (RWAs) and other stake holders, will come up for discussion in a crucial Delhi Development Authority (DDA) meeting on February 27, 2018, following which the Lt Governor will approve the same, Puri said. The approved amendments to the Master Plan of Delhi 2021 (MPD-2021) will be then presented before the Supreme Court. The move aims to bring relief to the traders from a sealing drive, which was initiated in December 2017, from the Defence Colony market in south Delhi, at the instance of a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee.
The AAP and the Congress have been attacking the BJP-led centre, for not finding a solution to the problem. “We are very serious about finding a solution to the problem. The disruption caused to the citizens of Delhi will be minimised,” Puri told reporters, with DDA vice-chairman Udai Pratap Singh, BJP MLA and DDA member OP Sharma and officials of the Urban Development Ministry by his side. Later speaking to reporters, Sharma said it is likely that the DDA will give its approval, so that it could be sent back to the Urban Development Ministry, which can then file an affidavit before the apex court. This is likely to give relief to the people from the sealing drive.
Elaborating on the recommendations, Puri said uniform FAR on shop-cum-residence plot/complex of pre-1962 and post-1962, shall be permitted. The FAR is the ratio of a building’s total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land on which it is built. This means the FAR for 100 sq metres was earlier variable, ranging from 180 to 225, but now it is recommended to be a uniform 350 for 100 sq metres. There will also be uniform norms for utilisation of basement in all the shop-cum-residential plots/complexes.
