Dwelling on Delhi’s Master Plan
If handled well, there’s huge potential to unlock crores in the city
SEBASTIAN MORRIS
Posted online: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 0000 hours IST
The Delhi government would soon have to legislate to make special exemptions
to Delhi’s Master Plan to override the Supreme Court’s (SC) order banning
commercial activities in residential areas. Policy-makers and planner
sitting in ivory towers would have liked to dismiss the move as being forced
upon by violators who are politically connected. But such thinking would be
erroneous. Both the SC and planners need to worry about their fundamental
assumptions.
..............................
There is a way to grow out of the current imbroglio. All violators could be
identified and issued a token that gives then both a right and imposes upon
them an obligation. A right to build so much more and to use so much built
up area for commercial use—this is their reward for violation (TDRVs); and
an obligation that they can operationalise this right only if they buy up
‘transfer of development like rights’. The latter right could be called
‘Rights of Non Violators’ or TDRNVs. The market price for such TDRNVs would
depend upon the value of commercial activities. Tradability of both TDRVs
and TDRNVs would be necessary to smoothly realise scale and scope economies.
It would also allow more efficient high-rises and built up areas, while
keeping the overall FSI closer to what is intended.
..............................
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=141455
Is this the master plan?
If anyone is to blame for Delhi’s urban mess, it is its Municipal
Corporation
BY DIPANKAR GUPTA
......................
Ironically enough, shopkeepers should thank the Supreme Court for their
sudden remarkable rise in social esteem. As the time-worn adage goes, not
only must a ruling be just, it must also appear to be just. This is where
the Supreme Court was found wanting when it ordered the sealing and
demolition of commercial properties. To be seen as just, a judgment must be
consistent, universal and should always begin by fixing the primary blame on
the principal offenders. In this case, the Supreme Court has erred on all
three counts.
..................................
All of this is common knowledge. It has also failed to implement DDA’s
Master Plan on a number of other fronts. This is especially true when it
comes to housing for the poor, slum resettlement, lowincome dwellings and
providing authorised space to hawkers. By not making planned room for
hawkers, as mentioned in the DDA Revised Master Plan, it is estimated that
the MCD has encouraged real estate malpractice to the tune of Rs 3,000 to Rs
4,000 crore.
The way various officials threaten and force slum-dwellers to pay to stay is
well-known. But what needs to be brought out is that the MCD has cynically
neglected to abide by the Master Plan in terms of rehabilitating them. The
recent incidents in Yamuna Pushta highlight this aspect in all its gory
details. The Master Plan clearly mentions that rehabilitation of
slum-dwellers and squatters should not be a mere paper exercise that ends up
regularising what exists. Nowhere does the Master Plan advocate
indiscriminate bulldozing of slums and JJ colonies, either. Instead, the
Master Plan advocates alternative housing and on-site rehabilitation as the
best and most enduring ways of resolving the plight of slum-dwellers. But
this is far from what is current practice, and yet, the MCD is not in the
dock.
...........................
Surely, the parliamentarians know that the DDA has a special screening
sub-committee that was set up in 1980 with its vice-chairman as convenor.
This is in keeping with the original DDA Act of 1957 (Section 7-11A) charter
that clearly states that planned development is the DDA’s main function.
Parliament rushed through its legislation without giving due importance to
this committee in its belated efforts to bring relief to shopkeepers in
Seelampur and elsewhere. The Master Plan’s provisions have been allowed to
die on the vine, and nearly every authority has had a hand in this.
http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/default.aspx?selPg=1403&page=27_09_2006_012.jpg&ed=47
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If handled well, there’s huge potential to unlock crores in the city
SEBASTIAN MORRIS
Posted online: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 0000 hours IST
The Delhi government would soon have to legislate to make special exemptions
to Delhi’s Master Plan to override the Supreme Court’s (SC) order banning
commercial activities in residential areas. Policy-makers and planner
sitting in ivory towers would have liked to dismiss the move as being forced
upon by violators who are politically connected. But such thinking would be
erroneous. Both the SC and planners need to worry about their fundamental
assumptions.
..............................
There is a way to grow out of the current imbroglio. All violators could be
identified and issued a token that gives then both a right and imposes upon
them an obligation. A right to build so much more and to use so much built
up area for commercial use—this is their reward for violation (TDRVs); and
an obligation that they can operationalise this right only if they buy up
‘transfer of development like rights’. The latter right could be called
‘Rights of Non Violators’ or TDRNVs. The market price for such TDRNVs would
depend upon the value of commercial activities. Tradability of both TDRVs
and TDRNVs would be necessary to smoothly realise scale and scope economies.
It would also allow more efficient high-rises and built up areas, while
keeping the overall FSI closer to what is intended.
..............................
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=141455
Is this the master plan?
If anyone is to blame for Delhi’s urban mess, it is its Municipal
Corporation
BY DIPANKAR GUPTA
......................
Ironically enough, shopkeepers should thank the Supreme Court for their
sudden remarkable rise in social esteem. As the time-worn adage goes, not
only must a ruling be just, it must also appear to be just. This is where
the Supreme Court was found wanting when it ordered the sealing and
demolition of commercial properties. To be seen as just, a judgment must be
consistent, universal and should always begin by fixing the primary blame on
the principal offenders. In this case, the Supreme Court has erred on all
three counts.
..................................
All of this is common knowledge. It has also failed to implement DDA’s
Master Plan on a number of other fronts. This is especially true when it
comes to housing for the poor, slum resettlement, lowincome dwellings and
providing authorised space to hawkers. By not making planned room for
hawkers, as mentioned in the DDA Revised Master Plan, it is estimated that
the MCD has encouraged real estate malpractice to the tune of Rs 3,000 to Rs
4,000 crore.
The way various officials threaten and force slum-dwellers to pay to stay is
well-known. But what needs to be brought out is that the MCD has cynically
neglected to abide by the Master Plan in terms of rehabilitating them. The
recent incidents in Yamuna Pushta highlight this aspect in all its gory
details. The Master Plan clearly mentions that rehabilitation of
slum-dwellers and squatters should not be a mere paper exercise that ends up
regularising what exists. Nowhere does the Master Plan advocate
indiscriminate bulldozing of slums and JJ colonies, either. Instead, the
Master Plan advocates alternative housing and on-site rehabilitation as the
best and most enduring ways of resolving the plight of slum-dwellers. But
this is far from what is current practice, and yet, the MCD is not in the
dock.
...........................
Surely, the parliamentarians know that the DDA has a special screening
sub-committee that was set up in 1980 with its vice-chairman as convenor.
This is in keeping with the original DDA Act of 1957 (Section 7-11A) charter
that clearly states that planned development is the DDA’s main function.
Parliament rushed through its legislation without giving due importance to
this committee in its belated efforts to bring relief to shopkeepers in
Seelampur and elsewhere. The Master Plan’s provisions have been allowed to
die on the vine, and nearly every authority has had a hand in this.
http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/default.aspx?selPg=1403&page=27_09_2006_012.jpg&ed=47
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.12.9/457 - Release Date: 9/26/06