Citizens' forum threatens to go to court against premium FAR proposed by govt

The premium Floor Area Ratio (FAR) that the government has proposed in order increase revenues of municipal corporations, especially the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, may tank the Transferable Development Rights (TDR) market, indicated Citizen Action Forum (CAF) founder president N S Mukunda.

He warned that CAF and its allied groups will approach the courts if the government does not drop the premium FAR proposal.

Addressing a group of people at the Institution of Engineers (India) on Wednesday, Mukunda said, “Already, the TDR market is underdeveloped in Bengaluru unlike Mumbai. On top of it, TDR is costlier than FAR. There is every likelihood of the TDR market never coming up.”

He said premium FAR will ruin the city with residential areas losing their tranquillity.

“The population density will increase due to the premium FAR as extra storeys on a small plot will come up. Eventually, it will affect all the services such as transport, water, electricity and so on. The only way to stop it is to fight against it,” said Mukunda.

“The Urban Development Department, which has prepared the draft has no jurisdiction to do it. It should have been prepared by the Metropolitan Planning Committees in consultation with citizens,” said Mukunda.