The Times of India  06.12.2010

MUMBAI: While the FSI for the 56 Mhada colonies in Mumbai has been increased to 2.5 and buildings are undergoing redevelopment, there is hardly any effort to have planned development. In fact, there is very less space for vehicle parking in redeveloped buildings and residents are forced to park on roads.

Vice-president and CEO of Mhada, Gautam Chatterjee, said: " In one of the meetings, I told municipal commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya that no concessions must be given to builders who want redevelopment by compromising on parking space."

Mhada sources said the building proposals department allows for more construction at the cost of parking lots. "Larger FSI with TDR permits large constructions. Builders sell parking lots for Rs 4 lakh to Rs 5 lakh each but they cut down on parking space," said a Mhada official.

A case in point is Tilak Nagar in Chembur where towers came up in place of Mhada chawls. As parking is an issue, residents now park on the road. At many places in Tilak Nagar, there is angular parking, leading to traffic snarls and only one car can pass on each carriageway. Same is the case at Pantnagar, Motilal Nagar, Bandra (E) and Andheri (W).

Citing a case in Pantnagar, a Mhada official said that a building is redeveloped on Ram Narayan Narkar Marg , "The builder is selling each flat for Rs 1.20 crore. The first floor of this building will be leased to a nationalised bank. There is space only for 10 to 15 cars. A person buying a flat here would have at least one car. There is not enough space and cars parked on the carriageway of Narkar road will block traffic," said a Mhada official.

In Bandra-East, a MHADA chawl was redeveloped and the saleable component flats were sold at the rate of Rs 14000 per sq foot, but there is barely any space for parking. Only some big builders in Bandra-East which are doing mega development projects of a cluster are providing parking lots.

Advocate Ravi Shetty, a resident of Bandra -East said, "When we had a deal with the builder DB Realty, we have incorporated two car parks per flat and 100 parking lots for guests. This is a standard part of our agreement. Similarly situation now exists in other redevlopment projects of Bandra -East where each original member is being given one car park.''

Housing expert Chandrashekhar Prabhu said, "When redevlopment takes place, there must be suffiecent parking. Unless that is done, plans should not be sanctioned." Master plans of MHADA colonies should be done and they technically qualified people and those on panel of MHADA who are qualified enough.''

An official in the building proposals department said, "We insist on parking lots, but the present schemes only allow concession in redevelopment cases."