Rs 1.2k cr for Infra Upgrade, Owners of Illegal 4-Floor Buildings to Face 10x Penalties, ET RealEstate
GURUGRAM: The state govt has announced infrastructure upgrade in all sectors and colonies, and allowed release of Rs 1,179 crore under infrastructure augmentation charges (IAC), which was earlier collected by DTCP, HSVP, HSIIDC and ULB department against approval of stilt-plus-four floor plans.
Residents, who have been opposing four-floor buildings, claimed their biggest concern is lack of key infrastructure — road, electricity, sewerage and drainage — which doesn’t support four dwelling units per plot.
In the 1990s, when most of the city’s licensed colonies were being developed, the infrastructure was developed keeping in mind construction of two-and-a-half floors on each residential plot. Over three decades later, the population has doubled but the infrastructure, however, remained unchanged, which led to a burden on civic amenities.
Civic amenities like width of drainage and sewer lines, capacity of underground water tanks and electricity distribution network among others, have not been upgraded since the colonies were first developed. As soon as the govt approved the fourth-floor policy in 2019, hundreds of residential properties across the city were converted into four-floor buildings. However, residents kept questioning how the infrastructure could sustain almost double the load.
In its order, the govt has said Rs 1178 crore shall be released on immediate basis to HSVP, which shall be the nodal agency for prioritisation and execution of upgrade. According to govt records, of Rs 1178.95 crore collected against approval of stilt-plus-four floors, Rs 690 crore was collected by DTCP, Rs 466 crore by HSVP, Rs 20 crore by ULB and Rs 2.6 crore by HSIIDC.
Also, the state govt has announced heavy penalties on property owners who have raised four floors without approval of building plans till date.
An official said composition of such offences will be allowed after charging composition fees at 10 times the rate prescribed for construction raised without approval of building plans.
The govt, in its order, has formulated standard operating procedure (SOP) for such stilt-plus-four floor buildings. “All such people who have raised such unauthorised construction have to apply to the competent authority for composition of offence,” stated the order.
Besides this, the govt has directed all departments concerned to set up “S+4 Portal” for dealing with issues pertaining to four floors and uploading of various information from time to time.
All these departments will also constitute grievance redress committees for handling all complaints and providing aid to plot owners for all matters pertaining to structural damage, parking problems and infrastructure problems among others.
