19,000 STRUCTURES TO GET MAKEOVER
Rukmini Shrinivasan I TNN
Mumbai: In two weeks time, chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh will clear new Development Control Rules (DCR) for the redevelopment of 19,000 old buildings in the island city. The amended DCR will address, among other things, the controversial issue of additional floor space index (FSI).
The redevelopment of cessed buildings in the island city has been the subject of many years of controversy and the issue remains in the high court. In 1991, the state government introduced DCR 33 (7) which dealt with the reconstruction of cessed and dilapidated buildings. The rule was amended in 1999 to give the developer unlimited FSIthe ratio of permissible vertical growth to the plot area. Following a PIL by prominent citizens, the HC stayed the redevelopment of buildings using an FSI of more than 4. The matter is still awaiting the final order.
With just 800 buildings redeveloped in the last 40 years, the state has been forced to admit that its approach has been inadequate so far. For the last two years, the state government has been talking of a cluster approach to the redevelopment of old buildings, many of which are just metres apart from each other, making individual reconstruction difficult. This approach involves several buildings on a plot, say 25 acres in size, to be redeveloped together. Simultaneously, the local infrastructure, including roads and drains, is also to be upgraded.
After the state invited suggestions from residents on an area in the island city where the cluster approach could be implemented on a pilot basis, it received several proposals. On Thursday, a delegation of city MLAs met Deshmukh with their suggestions. Deshmukh clarified that only after the rules were framed in two weeks, would any scheme be taken up.Swadhin Kshatriya, principal secretary to the CM with additional charge of housing, told TOI that the new rules would address, among other things, the issue of FSI. Ultimately, the aim is to provide incentives for the process, said Kshatriya.
Sources in the department said that an FSI of 4, which has been granted for Dharavis redevelopment, is being considered.
Housing activist reiterated the need for civic infrastructure to first be upgraded to meet current needs and subsequently be made worldclass, before considering an increase in FSI. Currently, FSI for the island city is 1.33.