The department of town and country planning (DTCP) has clarified that buildings with only three floors will be permitted on affordable housing plots under the Deen Dayal Jan Awas Yojna (DDJAY), as the expert committee constituted to examine the policy allowing construction of stilt plus four floors is yet to submit its report.
On February 23, the state government put approval of fourth floors on hold after wide-scale protests by residents’ groups who claimed that floors have been constructed across residential colonies in the city, but not much work has been done to augment infrastructure such as roads, power supply, sewerage and drainage. While approval was revoked for all four-floor buildings, no mention was made of affordable housing plots. This had led to confusion among developers, for which DTCP has now issued a clarification.
In an order issued on May 10, DTCP director TL Satyaprakash said applications have been received for approval of zoning plans where the layout plans were issued at the time of grant of licence before February 23 considering a density of 18 persons per plot (four dwelling units).
But until the expert panel submits its recommendation, only those plans with a density of 13.5 persons (three floors) will be approved. “In case the decision to keep approval of four-floor buildings in abeyance is revoked, the number of floors will be restored to four,” the order stated.
The DTCP director also said even in cases where the layout plan and licence for four floors have already been issued under DDJAY, the zoning plan will be approved on the basis of 13.5 persons per plot.
Meanwhile, P Raghavendra Rao, the chairman of the expert committee, has called a meeting of the heads of the departments concerned — DTCP, HSVP, ULB and HSIIDC — on Tuesday for their feedback on issues being faced at the ground level due to the policy. The panel is expected to make a decision on the policy in the meeting, after which it will submit its report to the state government.