Bldg height must conform to road width rule: Centre

Clara Lewis TNN 

Mumbai: The central environment ministry has held that the February 2012 guidelines co-relating the height of a building to the width of the road and the distance of fire stations from the proposed buildings are mandatory. 
    The letter follows a directive from the state environment ministry to the state expert appraisal committee (SEAC) that the guidelines are advisory in nature. The directive was issued following a Bombay high court interim order that the guidelines be treated as advisory in nature. Any proposal rejected in the past and re-submitted before the final hearing in court on June 14 are to be reviewed. 
    Valsa Nair-Singh, secretary environment, said her note to the SEAC-2 with environment clearance for projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region is specific to the petitioner—the Maharashtra Chamber Housing Industry (MCHI)— who filed the writ in the Bombay HC. Deepak Goradia, vice-president of MCHI said that around 62 highrise proposals, a majority from Mumbai, have been rejected. 
    Officials said nearly all builders in Mumbai are members of MCHI and will get a reprieve. “The final hearing is in June so matters will become clear then,” said Nair-Singh. 
    The MoEF guidelines linking the height of a building, the width of the road and the building’s distance to the nearest fire brigade are meant to guard against an overload on the infrastructure and to ensure fire tenders can reach a highrise immediately during an emergency. 
    The guidelines are for buildings more than 15m in height. For example, a building 30- 45m tall should have a road at least 18m wide and a fire station within 5km. The EAC also stressed the need for mock drills and No-Objection Certificates from concerned departments before construction and occupancy. 
    In an Office Memorandum dated May 4, Lalit Kapur, director, MoEF has said the ministry had set up the Dr K Kasturirangan committee to review the November 2006 notification related to buildings, roads, SEZ projects and the February 2012 guidelines for highrise buildings. 
    “The committee has submitted its report which is now being examined. Pending a decision on the report, the guidelines will continue to apply.” 
    The MCHI had argued before the court that civic development control regulations already cover issues that are mentioned in the guidelines, such as the height of a building vis-à-vis the width of a road, an NOC from the fire brigade etc, said Goradia.

Source::::::::  The Times of India, 20-05-2013, p.03, http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW