Urban News

Hindustan Times  26.10.2010

The civic body has been accused of clearing private parking lot proposals without assessing the need for the same. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) committee has cleared 68 parking slot proposals under the state’s 50% additional Floor Space Index (FSI) scheme to private builders. Out of these, 34 are concentrated in just six wards in the city, the maximum being in Lower Park, Mahalaxmi (G-south) area with 13 proposals. The other wards are in Parel, Dadar, Elphinstone, Mahim, Mulund and Ghatkopar.

Manoj Kotak, chairman of the civic improvements committee, said the BMC was not taking into account the need for public parking lots in the city and is giving out these perks to private builders.

Kotak said areas such as south Mumbai, which is a business district needs more parking lots because several people from the suburbs travel to the area on a daily basis.

The state last year amended the Development Control (DC) rule 33 and added a new provision 33 (24), which said that builders would get 50 % incentive FSI if they constructed parking lots in their premises.

“The civic committee is clearing these proposals haphazardly and there needs to be a survey on the basis of need, after which the proposals should be cleared,” said Kotak.

Several builders such as Indiabulls, DLF and Ackruti modified their original plans to accommodate the parking lots in view of the additional FSI.

The 68 proposals that have been cleared by the civic committee are being sent to the state for final approval.

Civic body officials said that because of this scheme, several builders have given space for public parking in the land-starved city. However, civic activists are not amused and call this scheme tailor-made to suit the interests of the builders because no thought is given to the infrastructure.

Lawyer and activist Y.P Singh also issued a legal notice to the state saying that no environment assessment is done while sanctioning these projects.