MCD to make floor-wise approval of plans easy - Times Of India

MCD to make floor-wise approval of plans easy - Times Of India

NEW DELHI: There is good news for people living on individual floors in Delhi. Now, you don't have to obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from your neighbours for carrying out construction, as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is soon going to come up with guidelines for floor-wise regularizing and sanctioning of building plans in accordance with the Master Plan of Delhi 2021.

The standing committee on Wednesday asked MCD commissioner K S Mehra to prepare the new guidelines within two months. So far, a person living in a flat was expected to obtain an NOC from all the occupants of the building before carrying out any new construction.

"There were many complaints in this regard as other occupants of the building often used to refuse to give NOC. Earlier, we used to give floor-wise approval for building plans, but after the Lieutenant-Governor raised an objection last year in April, this procedure was discontinued. We have asked the MCD commissioner to prepare the guidelines in the next two months so that citizens of Delhi can comfortably live in the houses and don't have to depend on the permission of their neighbours for carrying out any construction,'' said Yogender Chandolia, chairman, standing committee.

According to senior MCD officials, obtaining an NOC from all the occupants is a cumbersome process and in most cases it is impossible to get an NOC as the other parties want the person, who wants to carry out new construction, to either give them money or some other benefit.

While framing the guidelines, MCD officials say, the issues concerning structural safety, distribution of floor area ratio (FAR) and problems of water, electricity, sewer and parking have to be addressed.

"At present, the FAR is for the entire building constructed on a piece of land. Now, we have to find out a way to fix the FAR for each floor. Apart from this, parking water, electricity and structural safety issues also have to been carefully studied," said a senior MCD official.

Once the policy is in place, Delhiites will be expected to simply submit their building plan and the proposed construction. MCD's technical committee will assess the structural stability and other parameters and then give floor-wise approval.

"At present, MCD doesn't have structural engineers, so we plan to make a panel of structural engineers to assess the new proposed structures," said the official.

In December 2006, the civic body started approving floor-wise building plans, but it was discontinued in April 2010. Since then, there has been rampant illegal construction in the city.

toireporter@timesgroup.com