HC ruling on CDP strong message to planning agencies
The High Court judgement on Wednesday directing the State to follow the zoning regulations as per Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP), 1995 has sent a strong message to the planning agencies to rethink their strategies on defining the land use policies across the City.
The government appears to have given the builders lobby a free hand to use residential areas for commercial purposes. The interim order has directed the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and the State to ensure that no further commercialisation happens in residential zones.
In its order, the Court has further directed the government to dust off the A Ravindra committee report recommendations made specifically for zoning regulations in the City. The report was dumped nearly three years ago.
Speaking to Deccan Herald A Ravindra, now the Advisor to the Chief Minister on Urban Affairs, only recalled parts of the recommendation to the government in his report submitted in 2009.
“Our basic recommendation to the government was to redesign the norms for commercial use. In a normal course, the planning authority demarcates the zones before letting them to be used for commercial purposes. As a result there has been serious misuse of zoning regulations, under the mixed zones clause of CDP 2015, for commercial purposes in residential localities,” said Ravindra.
The report had recommended to put an end to the gross violations committed over the years by using loopholes in the CDP for regularising commercial places in residential localities. “There is a need for setting up milk booths, vegetable stores and such other small commercial shops. But it has been observed across the City that by allowing commercial operations in residential areas gross violations have been committed. Even commercial complexes have come up in some of the residential localities,” he observed.
The report had also recommended that certain width of roads should be maintained in areas that have clear zoning regulations. “The most serious problem caused by commercialisation in the neighbourhood is traffic congestion. Due to a shopping mall or a complex, traffic and parking problems have increased. This needs to be addressed,” he said.
So did CDP 2015 miss these basic regulations to be followed? According to Ravindra, the CDP 2015 has been unable to define these zoning regulations under the mixed zoning concept.
He said that the interim order is likely to have far reaching impact on the planning of the City.
