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Urban Planning


BMC to raze illegal structures in Worli buildings housing politicians

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The Indian Express                17.09.2013

BMC to raze illegal structures in Worli buildings housing politicians

Mumbai
The politicians allegedly made illegal alterations in their flats/offices in Sukhada and Shubhada buildings. Express

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to demolish illegal structures in two Worli buildings housing top politicians and ministers.

The politicians, including Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, BJP leader Gopinath Munde, state Congress president Manikrao Thakre, Punjab governor Shivraj Patil Chakurkar and state forest minister Patangrao Kadam, are accused of making illegal alterations and conversions in their flats/offices in the 14-storey Sukhada and 32-floor Shubhada buildings.

The civic administration had in May given the politicians three months to correct the irregularities. The notices were issued under Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, after IPS officer-lawyer Y P Singh and activist Amit Maru raised the issue, alleging that society members had converted convenience stores into offices and gymnasiums. Most notices were for alterations on the ground floor of Shubhada.

Kadam received a notice for 'joining three shops in Sukhada for a gymnasium', while Ajit Pawar received two — one for converting two shops in Shubhada into a gym and the other for converting a shop into an office.

Despite the extension given to them, most members allegedly failed to comply with norms.

The civic administration then conducted a site visit on August 30, following which it served final notice to the residents. "You were called upon to remove the unauthorised additions and alterations and discontinue unauthorised user and unauthorised construction carried out beyond part occupation certificate. During the site visit on August 30, 2013, along with the representative of society and architect, it is observed that no rectification/restoration was carried out on site."

The civic building proposals department has directed the designated officer of the ward to take action against the illegal structures.

Civic officials said restoration work in shop number 6 (on the notice sent to Ajit Pawar and marked to Non-Con Energies) is complete, while work to remove illegalities in shop numbers 10 and 11 is being undertaken by the owners. Restoration work at Munde's shop has also begun, said officials.

The buildings, which mostly house politicians, had initially drawn flak because the state government tweaked rules to allow additional floors. The twin societies were allotted police land for construction of private residential quarters for politicians and ministers. Sukhada and Shubhada received additional FSI for an adjoining open plot to be developed into a garden, allowing expansion of built-up area by 30 per cent.

Despite BMC disapproval, the state government de-reserved the open space. It later came to light that the buildings in CRZ II zone did not have mandatory environmental clearances either.

 

Consultant to help draw up Mapusa town plan

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The Times of India               30.08.2013 

Consultant to help draw up Mapusa town plan

PANAJI: The North Goa planning and development authority (NGPDA) on Thursday decided to call for expressions of interest (EOI) from consultants to prepare the ambitious Mapusa town planning scheme involving over 15 lakhsq m of land.

The authority also decided to appoint an advisor for the preparation of the Mapusa town planning scheme in two phases. While the government has already made a provision of 50 lakh towards appointments and preparation of the scheme, the NGPDA has decided to request the government to immediately sanction 10 lakh as the first installment.

This is the first time the state government wants to acquire land for development under Section 56 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1974. The decision was approved by the state cabinet on July 31 this year.

Under the scheme, the government plans to build projects such as Kala Mandir, Bodgeshwar plaza, interstate bus-stand, warehousing facilities, exhibition ground, football ground, infrastructure to move schools out of Mapusa, etc. In phase one, the scheme will develop downtown Mapusa around the Bodgeshwar temple (about 11.24 lakh sq m) and in the second phase, the scheme will develop the areas of Camarkhazan and Gaunsavaddo (about 5.87 sq m).

NGPDA chairperson Michael Lobo told TOI that the authority will send a delegation led by urban development minister Francis D'Souza to Gujarat to see how a town planning scheme works. D'Souza, besides being the MLA of Mapusa, is also a member of the NGPDA.

The special feature of this scheme is that the government will not take over the land under the Land Acquisition Act, which is very time-consuming. Instead, the government will take over the land under the town planning scheme, which is much quicker. D'Souza is so confident of the plan that he hopes to lay the foundation stone for the Mapusa Kala Mandir on December 19 this year.

 

Kanpur Development Authority map adalat from Sept 5

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The Times of India             27.08.2013

Kanpur Development Authority map adalat from Sept 5

KANPUR: Kanpur Development Authority would organize a three-day building map adalat from September 5 to sanction the layout plan of buildings. KDA chief Jayshree Bhoj announced it on Monday that basic purpose of the map adalat was to provide facility to people who want the maps quickly. An official said that maps of building to be constructed in an area of 300 sq metres would be sanctioned in a day. Map of plots having area of more than 300 sq metres would be sanctioned after five days. tnnChief town planner Swaraj Ganguly would be the in-charge of the camp.

For the sanction of building map a resident had to bring five copies of map, ownership documents and freehold deed. KDA would also make available set maps for the land below 300 sq metres. As many as 10 maps would be available for residents and they had to select one.

 

40 builders apply for licence in city under affordable housing policy

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The Times of India             22.08.2013

40 builders apply for licence in city under affordable housing policy

GURGAON: On the first day of the notification of the affordable housing policy in Haryana, 40 applications of different developers have been received for launching the project in Gurgaon.

After completing the procedures of notifying the policy, the department of town and country planning (DTCP) received the applications for licence in affordable housing projects. The flats built under the scheme will be in the range of 28 sq-metre to 60 sq-metre carpet area.

A senior DTCP official confirmed that 56 licence applications were moved by builders, out of which 40 were for various sectors of Gurgaon, eight for Sohna, six for Faridabad and one each for Jhajjar and Karnal.

The DTCP, he said, is expecting responses from developers for more towns.

Under the scheme, the developer will construct affordable houses for which separate licences will be applied for. At present, the DTCP makes it mandatory for the builder to reserve certain number of flats for the economically weaker sections (EWS) in all projects.

The new scheme has been designed for the people from low-income group. The DTCP has fixed the maximum allotment rate of Rs 4,000 per sq ft for flats approved under such projects in Gurgaon, Fairdabad, Panchkula and Pinjore-Kalka. The rate for high and medium potential towns is Rs 3,600 per sq ft and the remaining low potential towns Rs 3,000 per sq ft respectively.

The DTCP has also spelt out the deadline for the allotment of the flats built under the scheme. The official said that the project under the affordable housing scheme is required to be completed within four years from the date of approval of building plans or grant of environmental clearance whichever is later.

In case the builder fails to complete the project, renewal of licence will not be allowed by the DTCP as per the regulation. On the issue of allotment of the flats under the project, it has been decided that in each district, a committee headed by the deputy commissioner will scrutinize each application and decide the eligibility of the applicants.

Real estate industry insiders claim that the policy will help leverage the potential of private sector capital investment for development of affordable housing projects. To woo builders, licence fee and IDC have been waived and also allowed higher FAR to the tune of 225 against 175 permitted in normal group housing projects. The project will also be allowed to higher ground coverage up to 50% which in normal group housing projects is 35%.

 

Surat Municipal Corporation gets over 2.47 lakh application for property regularization

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The Times of India               20.08.2013

Surat Municipal Corporation gets over 2.47 lakh application for property regularization

SURAT: Over 2.47 lakh property owners have submitted applications to Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) to get their properties regularized under the provisions of the Gujarat Regularisation of Unauthorised Development Act. The figure is likely to touch 2.70-lakh mark on Monday, the last day for submission of the applications. The number of applications submitted in Surat is more than that of Ahmedabad and Rajkot, sources said.

This is thanks to the massive awareness campaign launched by SMC. This figure was unimaginable 15 days ago. Workers and corporators of BJP, which controls the municipal corporation, also spread out in areas like Katargam and Limbayat and asked people to get their illegal constructions legalized.

Town development officer Manish Doctor said, "We will have to allot special time and persons for the job. We may even have to employ staff on contract to complete this job."

Structures of people who have submitted applications will not be demolished until they are disposed of.

"SMC will still remove constructions on road, reserved land and on water body etc," Doctor said.

The Town Planning (TP) department has so far processed 10,000 applications, Vijay Desai, a TP department official, said.

Municipal commissioner Manoj Das said, "These applications will be processed in a time-bound manner. The huge response is mainly due to the awareness campaign launched by the municipal corporation."

 


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