North MCD seeks relaxation from building by-laws for city’s villages

The North MCD is seeking relaxation from provision of getting building plan sanctioned for Delhi’s villages stating that ‘building by-laws don’t apply in villages.’

Mohan Bhardwaj, chairman of standing committee in North MCD said: ‘Building by-laws are not applicable in villages as they don’t have required infrastructure which is in in accordance with the provisions of MPD- 2021(Master plan of Delhi).’

According to the provisions of MPD 2021, in order to get a building plan sanctioned, the plot should have at least 8 meter-wide road in front of it. ‘However, it is very unlikely in villages as some roads are 10-feet wide, while some are 12-feet and hence the building plan in these villages are never sanctioned. As a result of that, there is large-scale unauthorised construction going on in villages’, Bhardwaj added.

He argued that this also gives rise to corruption as ‘the owner will anyway build his/her house and is forced to bribe the officials in order to get things done. ‘The owner should rather submit a security certificate issued by a certified engineer’, he said.

Earlier, there was no need to get building plan sanctioned in Delhi’s villages. However, in MPD 2021, the officials stated that villages in the city has undergone major transformation to match up to urban standards. 

‘The MPD 2021 was made by DDA in air-conditioned rooms. They should go and visit these villages and find out on their own that MPD provisions are not valid there’, said Azad Singh, former mayor of North MCD.

Meanwhile, Bhardwaj has written a letter in this regard to union Urban Development Ministry to direct DDA to make necessary amendments in MPD 2021.