BMC issues new circular to stop misuse of road widening norms

Instead of rehabilitating original beneficiaries in the same ward as the regulation 33 (12) B mandates, an NOC was being granted to developers under the regulation to rehabilitate bogus individuals. The issue was brought to the notice of civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal

MUMBAI: To stop the misuse of regulation 33 (12) (B) of the Development Control and Promotion Regulation (DCPR) 2034 by ward officers in collusion with developers to generate extra FSI from road widening works, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has streamlined the section with a new circular and more stringent conditions.

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Section 33 (12) (B) is primarily used to expedite removal of bottlenecks from roads. As HT reported in its May 17, 2023, edition, instead of rehabilitating original beneficiaries in the same ward as the regulation mandates, an NOC was being granted to developers under the regulation to rehabilitate bogus individuals. The issue was brought to the notice of civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal by elected representatives and civic activists.

Chahal has now approved a new circular valid from June 16 which has imposed checks and balances in the regulation implementation. The regulation made a special provision for removal and re-accommodation of tolerated and protected structures falling in the alignment of existing roads or widening of existing roads and re-accommodate such structures in the same administrative ward and it allowed developers to benefit from FSI up to 4.00.

Activists had pointed out that this regulation was being used on random roads, and not specifically priority roads meant for road-widening, where legal structures come in the way of road alignment

The June 16 circular directs that the ward officers have to now prepare a priority list of roads that need to be widened along with a list of identified tolerated, protected, cessed or non-cessed structures with the name of the occupant falling in the alignment of the road. This list will have to be displayed on BMC portal and ward notice board and the occupants of the enlisted structures will be made aware of the priority list.