Residents protest new zoning rules

RWAs across the city file a public interest litigation

By SAFIYA SAYEED

Ever since the Urban Development Department of the state government published a zonal regulation draft, the residents are up in arms. If it’s followed to the letter, there will be no difference between a residential and commercial area, leading to chaos all over the state and not just Bangalore. Therefore, all civic-conscious resident activists and resident welfare associations have banded together to start a ‘Namma Mane Bengaluru’ campaign and have a Whatsapp Group called ‘Hosa Zoning Beda’. They have also filed a public interest litigation to prevent the government from enacting it as law.

Nitin Seshadri, the Koramangala resident spearheading this campaign was the guest of honour in the Residents Watch Whatsapp Group (which has since moved to Telegram) last month. Here are the salient points of that discussion to bring you up to date on what this draft could do to our quality of life in the cities.

At the moment, the zoning in Bangalore is defined in the Revised Master Plan 2015 of the BBMP (you can see it here: https://tinyurl.com/rmp2015RW). Nothing commercial is allowed for roads that are 40 Ft width or less. Beyond 40 Ft, we have 20% or 50 sq metre whichever is less allowed for commercial use. But this is restricted to commercial outlets like Kirana shops and barber shops but not bigger entities like restaurants and pubs.

Premium Floor Area Ratio (FAR) is a serious issue. “Simply put, the builder who could build 500 apartments can now build 750,” says Nitin. “But here, he has to pay for over 400 of them which is a huge cost. What does that do to housing prices? And can the premium FAR be justified by the infrastructure on the ground? If more floors come up, where are the sewage lines, water lines and roads to support this? Comparisons are made to New York and Hong Kong, but the infrastructure is in no way comparable.”

The way the zonal laws are being brought in is another major precedent. “A bottom up approach that talks to stake holders in the city and then takes their opinions into account and then factors that into the planning process is the basis of a CDP (Comprehensive Development Plan). That process was underway in RMP 2031. Now this has been disrupted.”

The residents demand is therefore this: let the zoning issues be part of RMP 2031. That has a process. The new draft notification does not. At the end of that process, we may still not like the result, but if so, there is a legal way to fight that out in the draft or final master plan. “We hope to speak to all 28 MLAs from Bengaluru from all the three political parties,” says Nitin. Postcards have also been sent to the Chief Minister. It’s time the state government doesn’t succumb to the real estate mafia and listens to the residents.