BMC seeks to ‘redefine’ highrises

Builders have argued that clearance by the HRC leads to unnecessary red tape and delay in approving the proposals. BMC chief engineer Jivan Patgoankar said the proposal to increase the limit to 120 metres (36 floors) has been sent to the UDD and approval is awaited.

The UDD,however,does not seem in a hurry to pass the proposal. A senior official in Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan’s office said these are not absolute changes. “This is not a proper proposal by the BMC. It is just an advisory that they have proposed for our consideration. As of now,there is no movement on the same as we are taking our time to understand the need to make such a change. The BMC should explain the proposal in detail. For instance,they should give proper reasons why the limit has been increased by 50 metres and not more,” he said.

Retired Bombay High Court judge and chairman of the HRC S S Parkar said there has to be a limit on such changes. “A line needs to be drawn somewhere since environmental concerns have to be taken into account. As a government-appointed committee,we do not have an option when such amendments are sought. The only advantage of this will be speed in approval of projects,” he said.

Rubbishing claims of builders that the committee sits on proposals and delays approval,Parkar said,“We used to have two meetings a month but now we have only one as the number of proposals has reduced. We regularly pass proposals and the number of pending proposals is not high.”