Mumbaikars may soon need an NOC to dig under their own plot

If the government has its way a new amendment to construction laws could make it more difficult for landowners to dig water bore wells under private plots construct basement floors or worse build deep foundations for a buildingIn February this year MMRC Managing Director Ashwini Bhide and a few other officials had visited the proposed site for the MetroIII car shed at Aarey Colony to plant a few saplings File picAs of now a private plot owner has right to claim ownership of anything a few metres below the ground level but an amendment to the Development Control Rules DCR 1991 proposed by the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation MMRC on August 24 simply means any construction activity under a private plot falling in the alignment of a public work such as transport projects tunnels allied activities etc will need a noobjection certificate NOC from the civic authorities Or such works could even be restricted completelyA file pic of Metro work in progress Preliminary estimates suggest as many as 2223 structures will be affected by MetroIII and thousands more are likely to get hit by other underground infrastructure projects in the pipelineThe new amendment is proposed by the MMRC and forwarded to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC in view of the MetroIII project ColabaBandraSeepz which would need tunnelling work of 335 km and affect thousands of structures around the alignment and its proposed 27 stationsPreliminary estimates suggest as many as 2223 structures will be affected by MetroIII and thousands more are likely to get hit by other underground infrastructure projects in the pipeline If the proposed amendment is made to the DCR all structuresplots coming in the alignment of a public tunnel underground public project for mass transport including even the coastal road could see no further development or structural changesPreemptive strikeldquoThe structure and land affected by the proposed Metro alignment are having mostly private ownership and land owners may claim ownership right of the underground tunnel passing below their land in future So a specific regulation restricting such ownership claims is required to avoid future conflictIt is necessary to include words lsquoUnderground Public Mass Transit Systemrsquo in the DCR to facilitate construction of alignmenttunnels activities and allied uses below existing private land and structures The concerned landlord will be allowed to avail any benefit as per prevailing laws on such plots but cannot claim ownership of such structuresconstructionrdquo the proposal signed and drawn up Ashwini Bhide Managing Director MMRC readsHowever civic officials fear that once the amendment is made it is likely to be applied generally to every plot coming in the way of an alignment for any sundry public work such as tunnelling digging etc It is likely to put restrictions on basement floors foundations and water boring below specific depths and those requiring these facilities would then need an NOC from the civic authoritiesldquoThe depth of tunnels for civic tunnelling works and Metro works for mass transit system goes on up to 20 metres below the landrdquo said a senior civic officialRedevelopment hitExperts said regulating foundations and other digging activities on private plots could hamper redevelopment of old structures such as the Gaothans that are set to get higher floor space index FSI of up to 6 under the new Development Plan DPldquoThe Gaothans are set to get a boost from the existing 75 FSI to up to 6 under the new DP The higher the height the deeper we may need to go under the ground in future With these sort of regulations what use is it to redevelop our structures or claim FSI benefits from the government Also why does the government not direct its energies on restricting digging of illegal bore wells being used in stealing water rather than regulating the genuine ones around infrastructure projectsrdquo asked Sahar village resident and trustee of Watchdog Foundation Nicholas AlmeidaAnother resident affected by the MetroIII said the change in DCR will only add to more confusion for their centuryold structures set to go in for redevelopment ldquoOur building is under the Pagdi system and may need to go higher or other structural changes may need to be carried out in the futureHow will we carry out those changes The government is going on piling rules without even getting into the discussion of our rehabilitation if necessaryrdquo said Viraj Vedphatak a resident of Sriram Bhavan Charni Road which is likely to have a MetroIII station soonReasoningSenior MMRDA officials said the main reason they had requested the BMC to make changes in the DCR 1991 is because at present the construction of underground public mass transit system is not mentioned in the BMC DCR of 1991The changes made in the DCR will help them in doing work of tunnelling below the private properties along the alignment without any delay or problem as once the changes in the DCR are made the Project Affected Persons PAPs wonrsquot be able to claim that they have ownership rights below the groundAlso read Metro and Monorail projects affected people in Mumbai seek speedy rehabldquoOnce the provisions suggested by us are made no private land owner would be able to do any kind of construction below the ground along the alignment which includes basement floors water borings and foundation work without an NOCWhile demanding this we want to make it clear that the landowner will be able to get the benefit as per law All these things have been demanded because we donrsquot want any kind of danger for the structure of the underground Metro as well as the privatelyowned structures above the groundrdquo said an MMRDA official