NCP upset with CM for stalling bldrs’ bonanza

Mumbai: A humungous floor space index (FSI) of up to 10, offered to builders rehabilitating slum dwellers in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, has become a point of friction between the Congress and its alliance partner, the Nationalist Congress Party. 

    The Sharad Pawar-led NCP, which has a firm political grip over this region, is believed to be upset with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan for staying it. Chavan ordered the urban development department to review the regulation 2(7) and is likely to drastically reduce this construction bonanza for private developers. 
    In Mumbai, rules allow a maximum FSI of 5 as compensation in the form of transfer of development rights (TDR) for builders who rehabilitate slum dwellers free of cost in new tenements on vacant land belonging to them. Top government sources said the largesse would benefit a few politically connected builders, who have accumulated large swathes of land in Kothrud and Kalyani Nagar in Pune. 
DAGGERS DRAWN 

• Some builders with political connections have amassed a huge hoard of land in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad 

• A state regulation allows them to resettle encroachers on public land and in return gain FSI of 10 to construct on their own lands at premium prices 

• Sharad Pawar is believed to be upset with CM Prithviraj Chavan for deciding to review this regulation, and even cut the windfall for builders Builders 'over-compensated' for little work 
Mumbai:SourcessaidthePuneFSIissuewasoneof the reasons for NCP chief Sharad Pawar's broadside against CM Prithviraj Chavan last month. Without naming the CM, Pawar had said he wasn't clearing files, delaying decisions on crucial issues: "I don't knowwhether (his)hands are paralyzed when it comes to signing files. I hear there are files pending for three months." 
    But Chavan hit back, stating his government's priority was to "take decisions which helped the common man" and not files which are "in the interestof individuals". 
    "The general consensus is that builders are being overcompensatedfor very littlework,'' said a construction industry source.Largetractsof public land in Pune reserved for public amenities are encroached by slum dwellers. Policy stipulates that builders rehabilitate the encroachers in new buildings on a portion of the plot free of cost and build apartments for free sale on the remaining land. On lands required for public purposes, the slum dwellers are accommodated in situ and the builders hand over the remaining area to local authority to build a public facility. The local authority then grants TDR to the developer tobeusedon any of hislands in addition to the FSI normally availableon suchlands. 
    As compensation, builders receive higher FSI to build on their own land, depending in which zone of the city it falls within. FSI defines how much can be built on a plot. For instance, an FSI of 10 on a 1,000 sq m plotwill allow a developer tobuild10,000sq m or ten times the area of the plot. 
    A few Congress MLAs are believedtohavecomplainedto Chavan aboutthishighbonanza, it is learned. "It would lead to rampant construction in areas where the civic infrastructure is lacking in terms of water supply and roads,'' said a housing expert. 
SR - 2 (7):If the rehabilitation project of a slum located on land belonging to a public authority and needed for a vital public purpose, is taken on an unencumbered plot, in addition to the rehabilitation and free sale component, TDR for the area of the land shall also be sanctioned for the owner of the said unencumbered plot.