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The Delhi government has
proposed increasing the floor
area ratio (FAR) of houses
located along the Metro and bus
rapid transit corridors.
The proposal, drawn up by the
state government as part of its recommendations
to the Union Ministry
of Urban Development for
finalising the proposed regulations
of the Delhi Special Provisions
Act, primarily aims to decongest
the areas in which the corridors
have been built. The recommendations
do not suggest any
specific FAR for these areas.
According to Chief Minister
Sheila Dikshit, the proposal to
increase FAR, if accepted by the
Centre, would go a long way in
meeting the city's growing residential
needs. However, not
everyone agrees that the state
government's proposal is in the
best interest of the city.
"It is a thoughtless action on part
of the Delhi government," Kuldip
Singh, a renowned Delhi-based
architect, urban designer and
town planner, told Projectmonitor.
"Increasing FAR along the Metro
and BRT corridors will only create
more congestion in those areas.
The objective of any transport system
should be to serve the city but
increasing FAR does not help meet
that objective. This is just an
attempt to increase Metro's ridership.
Increasing FAR has become
a selective process since it is in the
hands of politicians," he added.
The Delhi government has also
proposed enhancing the FAR in
some special areas of the city.
These include Old Delhi localities,
Karol Bagh, Paharganj and
the urban villages. In addition,
over 1,600 unauthorised colonies,
already regularised by the state
government, have been included
in the list recommended for
increase in FAR. Currently, the
FAR limit on a plot size of 175 sq.
metres to 250 sq. metres in the city
is 350. The state government proposal
seeks to increase it to 400 in
the special areas. Sub-division of
plots to ensure better compliance
of building regulations has also
been strongly favoured in the recommendations.
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