New Delhi: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) held a meeting on June 8 through video conferencing under the chairmanship of Anil Baijal, the Lt. Governor of Delhi and DDA Chairman. The meeting was attended by Anurag Jain, IAS, vice-chairman, DDA, and other members of the authority, including MLAs Vijender Gupta, Somnath Bharti, Dilip Kumar Pandey, and OP Sharma and Adesh Kumar Gupta, municipal councillor, North Delhi Municipal Corporation.
Some important decisions regarding the unauthorised colonies in Delhi were taken by the authority. Unauthorised colonies are unplanned settlements built in contravention of Master Plan and zoning regulations characterised by poor infrastructure and amenities leading to poor quality of living standards. Understanding the importance of the same, the requirement of development control norms was also stressed upon in the NCT of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies) Regulations, 2019.
The central government has launched the PM-UDAY scheme (Pradhan Mantri Unauthorised Colony in Delhi Awas Yojana) for conferring/recognising ownership rights to the residents of 1,731 UCs in Delhi. DDA has been made nodal agency of the scheme, which delineate the boundaries of these UCs with the help of Survey of India and Revenue Department, GNCTD using satellite imageries of 2015.
Under the scheme, DDA will scrutinise documents and will issue conveyance deeds for government lands and authorisation slip for private lands, only for residential purposes. The beneficiaries can get these documents registered with the sub-registrar’s office.
The development control norms for UCs in Delhi are formulated to pave the way for planned development of the existing colonies. A two pronged approach with differentiated norms have been formulated with the aim to improve the quality of built environment, to provide continued affordable rental housing and to improve the existing physical and socio-economic conditions of the area. The norms were approved in the authority meeting held in December 2020 and were put in public domain.
Based on the suggestions received and discussions with the local bodies, the draft development control norms for UCs were placed before the authority and the same were approved and recommended for consideration and final notification by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
As per the approved norms, two alternatives have been formulated i.e UC Regeneration Scheme by incentivising, amalgamation of plots and ensuring participation of constituent land owners/inhabitants with defined parameters or by regularisation of existing UCs that meet certain minimum planning requirements.
Regeneration scheme incentivises large amalgamation of plots, for eg. the incentive amenity for the smallest amalgamation is 20 while for the highest category is 50. Smallest amalgamation allows 2,000 sqm i.e. land owners with the total area of 2,000 sqm for UC Regeneration Scheme. The scheme should provide a minimum 12 m RoW and provision of local level commercial under 5% of scheme area and 10% area for public & semi-public facilities.
Regularisation of UCs can be done on meeting minimum requirements which are relaxed compared to development norms provided in MPD.
Facilitating medical oxygen infrastructure in Delhi hospitals
To ensure that medical oxygen infrastructure is facilitated in the hospitals in Delhi to deal with Covid-19 pandemic, the authority has approved the amendment to the Unified Building Bye Laws 2016. This amendment will allow oxygen related infrastructure such as PSA plants, liquid medical oxygen etc free from ground coverage in the setback/open area of the existing hospital premises.
Further, no notice and building permit will be required from the sanctioning authority for erection or installation of PSA plant/liquid medical oxygen plant and similar related infrastructure in Hospitals if it is on ground and in open/setback areas. However, fire safety clearance, PESO and other mandatory clearances, wherever applicable, will be required.
This step will go a long way to augment the infrastructure related to oxygen in the GNCT of Delhi. It will reduce the reliance on other states for oxygen. While presenting the agenda, it was informed that as per comments received from PESO, that for installation of PSA without any compressor, there is no requirement of license/approval from PESO. For installation of PSA with a compressor, the case should be referred to PESO. Installation of LMO requires PESO clearance.
Further, as per information received from Delhi Fire Services, the oxygen plants having area less than 250 square meters are not covered under the Delhi Fire Service Rules, 2010, and therefore issuance of the Fire Safety Certificate is not required. However the following shall be maintained:
The plant should be approachable to fire engines through a 6 meters wide motorable road.
The plant should not encroach/obstruct the mandatory 6/9 meters already provided internal road for fire tender movement around hospital buildings.
Fire safety arrangements which have already been provided in the hospital building should not be altered.
Fire safety arrangements as per National Building Code 2016 should be provided in the interest of the public.
The proposed amendment will now be sent to MoHUA for final approval. On receipt of the approval, the same shall be notified by DDA.
Opportunity for small format houses
The DDA has approved disposal of some group housing plots for construction of small houses upto 60 square metres though freehold basis through e-auction.
This will cater to the demand of 40-60 sqm affordable housing due to growing trend of reduction of family member sizes, single parent family, only elderly couples dwellings. The small format houses are in line with the National Housing Policy. It was felt that there should be another category for smaller houses which are cheaper to the standard two/three bedroom houses/flats and can be purchased by lower middle-class or low salaried and small family persons.
The DDA can sell some of the plots in the high demand areas as group housing plots for construction of small dwelling units, small houses, flats with a carpet area of 60 sqm without any restriction on the eligibility criteria of the purchasers and the fixation of the cost/houses by DDA.
Boost to commercial built up shops
The authority has reviewed the method of pricing of built-up units/shops and approved significant changes in the pricing policy which aim to keep the prices fair and competitive. As per the existing policy, the cost of construction was enhanced every year by 10% with respect to the year of construction while fixing the reserve price whereas generally structures are depreciated as they age. Accordingly, the new policy accounts for depreciation. Considering the general economic scenario, the multiplication factor for the land has also been reduced.
Under the new policy, the reserve price of these built-up units is reduced by about 30% to 55%. This presents an excellent opportunity to the interested buyers as the shops are going to be offered at reduced rates. Most of these units are unsold inventory located in already functional markets in different parts of Delhi. The built up shops with revised rates will be part of the e-auction scheduled in August 2021.
Change of land use for multilevel car parking at Idgah Road
To cater to the acute demand of parking in the area, the authority has approved change of land use of land measuring 2.6 Ha. from ‘Residential (Redevelopment)’ to ‘Transportation (MLCP)’ for multilevel car parking at Idgah Road, Zone-A (other than Walled city).
The proposed modification will help North MCD and DMRC for construction of multilevel car parking and Nabi Karim Metro Station at Idgah Road. A public notice will now be issued for inviting objections/suggestions from the general public. North DMC along with DMRC submitted the proposal of “Integration of North DMC Multi-Level Parking with DMRC Nabi Karim interchange Metro Station: and requested for change of land use.
Relaxation for standalone godowns
Providing major relief to owners of standalone godown owners, the authority has approved the extension in timeline for the godowns in non-confirming area till December 31, 2023. Godowns functioning in non-conforming areas and is located on less than 30.0 m ROW will be benefitted by the extention. It is to mention that such relaxation was already in place till December 31, 2020, which has now been further extended.
A request was received from the Chief Town Planner, South DMC and Chief Town Planner, North DMC to extend the date of approval for the redevelopment plans for standalone godowns. Accordingly, the proposal was initially approved by the authority on March 18, 2021, and public notice was issued for inviting objections/suggestions.
The authority has also extended applicability of existing rate of External Development Charges (EDC) leviable for godowns in Narela till August 15, 2022. The reduced rate of external development charges on a plot area basis for the owners of godowns/godown clusters in Narela who earlier could not opt for the scheme due to the pandemic by one year. The proposals should be forwarded to the MoHUA for approval.
Authority members said that DDA should have an awareness campaign so that godown owners can take benefits of the reduced rates and not wait for the last date.
