Sealing drive: Centre gives recommendations to amend Delhi Master Plan 2021

The Centre has recommended amendments to Delhi's Master Plan 2021, including shifting of pubs, clubs and restaurants from residential areas, Union Urban Development Minister H S Puri said today amid a huge furore in the national capital over the sealing issue. The recommendations include uniform Floor Area Ration (FAR), shifting of pubs, clubs and restaurants from residential areas and augmentation of infrastructure services such as water and sewage by concerned service providing agencies. "Outdoor unit of air-conditioning shall in no case extrude from the plot line/or to be placed on the rooftop. Exhaust duct shall not open directly towards the public lane or face the other residential plot. Restaurants, clubs, pubs shall not be allowed in the residential premises as part of mixed use," Puri said. The recommendations finalised after deliberations with the traders, Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and other stake holders will come for discussion in a crucial Delhi Development Authority (DDA) meeting tomorrow, following which the Lt Governor will approve the same, Puri said. The approved amendments to the Master Plan of Delhi 2021 (MPD-2021) will be then presented before the Supreme Court. The move aims to bring relief to the traders from a sealing drive, which was initiated late December from the Defence Colony market in south Delhi, at the instance of a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee. The AAP and the Congress have also been attacking the BJP-led Centre for not finding a solution to the problem. We are very serious about finding solution to the problem.

The disruption caused to the citizens of Delhi will be minimised, Puri told reporters with DDA vice-chairman Udai Pratap Singh, BJP MLA and DDA member O P Sharma and officials of the Urban Development Ministry by his side. Later speaking to reporters, Sharma said it is likely that DDA will give its approval tomorrow so that it could be sent back to the Urban Development Ministry, which can then file an affidavit before the apex court. This is likely to give relief to the people from the sealing drive. Elaborating on the recommendations, Puri said uniform FAR on shop-cum-residence plot/complex of pre-1962 and post 1962 shall be permitted. The FAR is the ratio of a building's total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land on which it is built. This means the FAR for 100 sq mtr was earlier variable, ranging from 180 to 225, but now it is recommended to be a uniform 350 for 100 sq mtr. There will also be uniform norms for utilisation of basement in all the shop-cum residential plots/complexes.

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