Paid FSI paves way for other proposals

PUNE: Following the City Improvement Committee's (CIC) decision to approve the 'Paid Floor Space Index (FSI)' proposal, political parties have also suggested concepts of development TDR and premium FSI.
As per the CIC proposal, any developer will be able to purchase an additional FSI of 0.4 at the government ready reckoner rates for the area in which he plans to utilise this paid FSI.The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) should pay cash compensation to the land owners whose land is acquired The civic body will keep FSI of that land and anyone could purchase it from the civic body.
Congress leader Aba Bagul on Thursday said that the PMC should introduce the concept of premium FSI. "In old city limits, the PMC permits 1 FSI in B and C zones. To facilitate low cost housing projects, the civic body should give an additional 1 FSI in these zones and make it mandatory to use 25 per cent FSI for small flats," said Bagul, who added that this will solve the problem of small house scarcity in the city.
Sandeep Khardekar, vice president of the city BJP unit has said that the civic body should allow land owners to develop the land as per PMC reservation instead of acquiring the land. "The PMC should give TDR to land owners for development of the land. This will help to develop all reservations earmarked in the development plan," said Khardekar.
TDR is a compensation which is granted to a property owner whose land is acquired by the PMC to develop a civic amenity. Instead of money, the PMC grants a FSI certificate to the land owner. The land owner is allowed to use this FSI on his property or can sell the same to a builder.
The FSI is the ratio of total floor area of a building to the size of the plot which indicates the maximum construction allowed on a plot. If the FSI is 1 and the plot size is 1,000 sq ft, the maximum construction allowed on that plot will be 1,000 sq ft. In paid FSI concept, the builder or developer can directly purchase the FSI from the PMC.
TDR scams have tarnished the image of the corporation, the elected members said. The first TDR scam hit the headlines in October 2005 when it was found that the PMC had been allegedly duped to the tune of Rs 14 crore by two property owners and their agent, who procured TDR for a plot of land in Kothrud which had already been acquired and paid for by the civic body.