A group of developers and plot owners from the city has sought relaxations in the way floor area ratio (FAR) is calculated. On Friday, the builders met the director of the department of town and country planning, KM Pandurang, and proposed that lifts and staircases are not included in the FAR.
They told the official that because of the stairs and lifts, which are common areas but included in the FAR, they get less space to construct flats. 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.
Last year, the planning department had increased the FAR of plots measuring 300 square yards to 264. For bigger plots, the FAR was 240. The move had followed a demand from the association of developers and plot owners.
“At present, only stilt parking and basement are excluded from the FAR calculation. We have demanded that lifts and staircases are also excluded ,” said Ramesh Singla, president of the association.
At the meeting, the builders also requested Pandurang to charge extra fee from house owners who have constructed 5-10% more than the permissible limit. “We are against any unauthorised construction and have assured the department that none of the association members will violate the FAR norms. But there have been cases where minor additional constructions have been carried out. In such cases, the owners should be charged extra and their property should be regularised,” said KK Dwiwedi, general secretary of the association.
Meanwhile, members of the Guesthouse Policy Amendment Forum also met the DTCP director on Friday and demanded that plots measuring between 263 and 342 square yards be included in the guesthouse category.
“We have received the demands of the association. We will look into them. However, unauthorised construction and violation of building norms will not be tolerated in any form,” said a senior official of the department.
