CORE GROUP ON HOUSING

RECOMMENDATIONS

ISSUES IN GREEN FIELD PROJECTSInclusionary Zoning

25% of FSI in every new housing project-layout of size over 2000 sq. m., will be reserved for
EWS/LIG housing through appropriate legal stipulations and spatial incentives. If project-layout is
on land less than 4000sq. m, constructing separate buildings for public and private components
shall not be insisted.
Comments:This proposal was accepted by the Honble Chief Minister . The actual
implementation and relevant details were to be worked up by the Secretary Housing in
consultation with the UD Department.
This would be treated as public housing and its construction free of FSI. The units are handed
over to MHADA at construction cost which sells them transparently

Comments: The disposal of these houses was recommended to be done through MHADA
and it was left to the Secretary Housing to discuss if some of them could be used for rental
purposes also.
To avoid subdivision of land, developers are levied a fee if they do projects smaller than 2000 sq
mt. The fee goes into an Infrastructure Fund that goes to MHADA or MMRDA to build Affordable
Housing stock. The fee levied should be such that it makes subdivision of land the unattractive
alternative.

ISSUES IN GREEN FIELD PROJECTSAddressing the Land Crunch

In Greater Mumbai 136.69 sq. kms. of land are under NDZ( BMC information). Need to identify
developable NDZ lands, prepare master plan and put it to use for creating affordable and rental
housing
If legally permissible, allow lands exempted U/s 20 of ULC Act to be used for affordable/rental
housing schemes. Restrictions on areas designated as Special Residential Zones (SRZ) in
VVMC, U2 Zone in Panvel/other parts of MMR to be relaxed for Affordable Housing Schemes.
Appoint Group to study large tracts of sub-optimally used land that can be used for Affordable
Housing like BEST, Salt Pan, Port Trust.
Necessary efforts to use Salt Pan lands for Rental and 2.5 MHADA schemes. To examine the
possibility of invoking something similar to Private Forest Acquisition Act by which all salt Pan
Lands, at one stroke, can vest with Govt.
An independent High level Arbitration Body (Settlement Commission) to be set up for out of court
settlement of Lands under litigation with the condition that such lands would be exclusively used
for affordable and/or rental housing schemes
Comments: Affordable housing was recommended to be constructed on land by freeing
spaces in bus depots, land held by railways and non-operational port trust lands.
A group was agreed to be set up to identify land that is currently NDZ, U2, SRZ, Salt pans,
etc.
A court or a commission is to be set up to look at cases stuck in the Urban Ceiling Act, a
group was also to be set up to give recommendation to the land related policies.

ISSUES RELATED TO PROCEDURAL

SIMPLIFICATION & REGULATION

TRANSPARENCY OF DCRs/GRs/GOs
Put ALL DCR rules on the web along with clear mention of laws governing regular FSI and free
FSI. Also publish all the GOs/GRs related to land zoning and construction. This will reduce the
cost of doing business, benefits of which get passed on to customers.

AUTOMATIC NA:
Lands earmarked for residential/commercial use in Development Plans/Regional Plans should be
deemed to be Non-Agricultural and capitalized NA charges can be collected by ULBs at the time
of giving Building Proposal approval.

SINGLE WINDOW APPROVAL:

Housing projects totally devoted to creating private affordable housing should be given time bound
approval, under a single window, by the Planning authority.

REGULATORY AUTHORITY:
A real estate regulatory body needs to be set up under MOFA at the earliest.

Comment: Simplification of procedures for approval were to be further analyzed by the UDD
and the Housing Dept. and made public as early as possible.

ISSUES IN BROWN-FIELD PROJECTSSlum Redevelopment

Need to prepare cluster wise master plan covering all the slums in the city by a public authority,
preferably the Planning Authority, like SRA for Mumbai and ULBs for other cities. Time frame 6
months to 1 year.
To finalize policy to tackle post cut-off-date slum dwellers. Free housing scheme for post cut-offdate dwellers to be discontinued.
To fix a time frame for slum dwellers consent and right to choose developer.
The scheme in the present form generates 269 sq. ft. free rehab tenements and the free sale
component which cannot be termed affordable housing. The scheme should have flexibility to
generate public affordable housing as well as private/public rental housing.
To set up a small group headed by an individual acquainted with the problems of urbanization and
urban housing as well as extant law, which could suggest amendments to existing
legislation/regulation, to make existing policy more transparent, sustainable & regulated.
Comments: Portion of land field was also to be used for rehabilitation of pre 1995 slum
dwellers. The SRA schemes were also recommended to be of 1 + 3 or max. 1 + 4
structures. The cluster developments were also to be co-ordinated
and a separate authority was decided to be created for overlooking
this project ward-wise and in the ward specific area-wise

ISSUES IN BROWN-FIELD PROJECTSUrban Renewal

Need to prepare cluster wise master plan covering all the cessed buildings in the city by a public
authority within 6 months to 1 year.

To fix a time frame by which tenant/occupants will have the right of giving consent or choosing
their developer.
The scheme in the present form generates 300 sq. ft. free rehab tenements and the free sale
component which cannot be termed affordable housing. The scheme should have flexibility to
generate public affordable housing as well as private/public rental housing.
To set up a small group headed by an individual acquainted with the problems of urbanization and
urban housing as well as extant law, which could suggest amendments to existing DCR SubSections under Section 33 to make existing policy more transparent, sustainable & regulated.
Comments: As of now approval for redevelopment of cessed building with an FSI of 3 was
approved but it was recommended that a cluster-wsie master plan for cessed building and
a fixed time frame for the landlord and the tenents to chooses a developer must be adhered
to make this proposal viable. A separate authority was also recommended to be created
for this.

WAY FORWARD-Recap

Inclusionary zoning for Green Field developments

MHADA 2.5 FSI scheme and MMRDA Rental scheme to be activated

ACTION: UDD
ACTION: UDD

Set up Group to identify land that is currently NDZ, U2, SRZ that can be converted to RZone land with FSI 1.5 that can be used for Affordable Housing in MMR
Set up Group that can identify land for Affordable Housing that is available with different
agencies in MMR like BEST

O & M agency for managing Rental housing

ACTION: MMRDA

Procedural simplification Automatic NA, Single Window approval, all rules on web
ACTION: R&FD, UDD

Utilizing NDZ, BEST, Salt Pan, SRZ, Exempted ULC, Port Trust lands ACTION: UDD

WAY FORWARD-Recap

Arbitration mechanism (Settlement Commission) for freeing lands under litigation

ACTION: UDD, R&FD
Set up Expert group to suggest amendments to existing legislation/regulation, to make existing
policy more transparent, sustainable & regulated. ACTION: HOUSING

Urban renewal & Slum-free cluster planning

Set up Real Estate Regulatory authority under MOFA

ACTION: MHADA, SRA

ACTION: HOUSING