BMC offers FSI for bottleneck areas

Apart from widening roads to ease traffic jams, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has come out with a special provision in the FSI norms for buildings situated at road bottlenecks in the city, to ensure that the displaced are relocated in the same area.

The structures situated at road sides get in the way of road widening, as inhabitants resist rehabilitation provisions for fear of losing land at prime locations. The situation worsens if the tenements block arterial roads in the city, as inhabitants are unwilling to shift to less ‘important’ locations.

The Development Plan 2034 has allotted an FSI of 4.0 for plots around such bottlenecks, which are willing to accommodate the displaced families or businesses. The area used for the rehabilitation of the project-affected persons, will be added to the FSI of the actual construction on the plot in question.

Speaking on this, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta said, “We noticed this was a major problem when we tried to widen arterial roads such as the S.V Road. It is natural for locals to hold on to their land. So we came up with a provision that does not displace them drastically.”

Ramanath Jha, officer on special deputation for the DP said, “Any residential or commercial plot just around the bottleneck can opt for accommodating these people, and we will give them the FSI for their plot.”

Mr Jha said the idea was to ease movement of traffic in the city, as vehicular movement is as smooth as the narrowest patch allows it to be. He said, “However, there is not much we can do if the locals resist widening of roads.”