Apartments stand on 'shaky ground'

LUCKNOW: The calmness that has been the USP of a posh residential colony like Mahanagar is fast being replaced by cacophony. The private builders have gradually turned the erstwhile serene locality into a hot spot of unauthorised construction activity.
The sprawling bungalows are being replaced by apartment complexes, which, by no rule book are legal.The LDA rules specify that group housing structures cannot come up on plots having a size lesser than 20,000 sq ft, while the bungalows are definitely much smaller in area.
The metamorphosis is more palpable around sector-C of Mahanagar where the builders have been quick to enter into an agreement with owners of oversized plots (in today's context) for construction of multi-storeyed apartments. Of course, the cash registers of builders are ringing non-stop - the apartments being built in the area cost anywhere from Rs 30 lakh to a whopping Rs 90 lakh.
Take for example a project that has come up on a plot in sector-C. Sprawled over an area of 8,000 sq feet, the plot is situated along a seven meters road, essentially a bylane of Mahanagar. But the apartment complex which is coming up over it is three-storeyed - ground plus two. Posing as a customer, this correspondent approached the architect of the project, Manish Bhadauria. He said that the project would have its units divided into 4-BHK and 3-BHK. While the 4-BHK would cover an area of 2,900 sq ft, the 3-BHK would have an area of 1,450 sq ft. This way, the units will be priced at around Rs 90 lakh and Rs 44 lakh, respectively. Bhadauria said that the builders have taken permission from the LDA before starting the project.
Barely 100m away, in sector-A of Mahanagar, another smaller version of an apartment complex is taking shape. This project is coming over a 5,000 sq ft plot. The building, here too, is proposed to be three-storeyed, each floor comprising two apartments, each having an area of 1,000 sq ft. Fahmeed Beg, the builder, claims that the price has not been fixed as yet. However, a local property dealer, Gurcharan Singh claimed that each unit is proposed to be priced anywhere between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 40 lakh.
Not only Mahanagar, localities like Niralanagar too are witness to a similar trend. An increasing number of local builders are investing in these projects which, not surprisingly, will fetch them massive returns.
Ironically, according to town planning rules there is no provision for group housing on plots having a size lesser than 20,000 sq ft. However, the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) has been looking the other way even as many such structures come up. Chief engineer, LDA, S N Tripathi said that all such buildings are illegal. "The maps of buildings constructed on a plot below 2,000 sqm (approx 20,000 sq ft) are not sanctioned," he said.
Then how come these buildings have cropped up? Sources in the enforcement wing of LDA said that the building by-laws allow a person to construct up to three floors on plots less than 2,000 sqm. So, when a builder gets the map sanctioned, he adheres to the rule. Later, the building is shrewdly modified into an apartment and sold off to unaware buyers.
Significantly, the town planning department is mulling over a proposal for amendment in the building by-laws thus, allowing apartments on plots having an area between 5,000 sq ft to 20,000 sq ft. Sources said that the proposed change would allow four units on a plot having a minimum size of 5,000 sq ft. Above that six units would be allowed. "But that will once again be subject to the conditions comprising the width of the road along which the plot is located,'' said a senior official in the country and town planning department.
"The idea is of optimum utilisation of land resources,'' the official said. In places like Mahanagar, huge plots were allotted to the people in the past considering horizontal development of the city. That concept is not acceptable anymore, given the ever-increasing pressure on the land resources, not only within the city, but on the outskirts also. That's where this latest 'fad' in the real estate business crept in.