Amendments to Haryana building code draw criticism
Stakeholders express concern about frequent changes made in the code, allowing more norm concessions to builders constructing independent floors
With latest Haryana Building Code allowing a number of relaxations like increased floor area ratio (FAR), stilt parking, and increased number of floors in the plotted developments, the segment has grown fast in the last couple of years.
Gurugram leads the way, with Panchkula also catching up with the trend.
Vivek Sharma, a Panchkulabased builder, says, “In Panchkula, commercial aspect of the segment is still to grow. Many families are opting for independent floors after the recent changes were made in the building code.”
“Most of the growth is taking place in Gurugram with many builders undertaking constructions if government allows registration of the fourth floor, this will further boost growth in the segment,” says Gulshan Bhutani, a Gurugram-based builder.
CHANGES - DILUTIONS OR RELAXATIONS?
The continuous changes being made in the Haryana Building Code, particularly, in regard to the floor-wise construction and selling of plotted properties is raising severe concern among different stakeholders, including architects and residents, about their safety, impact on infrastructure and overall quality of life.
While the earlier building codes in the state sustained for long without registering major changes, the Haryana Building Code 2016, within a year of its notification, was changed repeatedly.
“There was a drastic change in the Haryana Building Code 2016 rules in which FAR was increased to 198% (1.98) — 66% on each floor. Stilt parking was allowed and total height was increased to 15m,” says Jyoti Chaufla, a Panchkula-based architect.
The Haryana Building Code2017 was also amended to relax norms regarding floors. A crucial change was made in the Haryana Building Code-2017. It is mentioned in the Haryana building code 2017 that “(g + 3 floor)” and “stilt (s + 4 floor)” while maximum height is fixed at 15m, with or without stilt parking in old and new houses. “This can be life-threatening, especially in the existing and adjoining houses, as foundations are built to support only up to 2.5/3 floors and adding another floor will lead to collapse of the structure. No practising architects or civil engineers were consulted while amending these rules,” says Chaufla.
These changes are being exploited by builders and property dealers, “who are buying roofs of the first floor to construct second floor, which is 20% of plot price, with the intention of building two floors, thereby defrauding ground floor and first floor owners by infringing upon their right of increasing FAR to 66% on their respective floors and endangering their lives as well as lives of neighbours,” adds Chaufla.
The latest rules say the staircase is counted only on the ground floor and treated as free area on upper floors.
“Perhaps it was done for the benefit of builders who make multi-storeyed flats so that they could use this additional area to make more flats by misusing the stairs-area/lift-area. But imposing this same rule on individual houses will wreak unnecessary havoc on society. As a result, even after covering the same area on each floor (ground floor/first floor/second floor) that is, 66% owners are left with FAR (because of the false benefit of the stair/lift area), thereby, directly encouraging all owners and builders to use this area on the third floor,” argued Chaufla.
REGISTRATION OF FOURTH FLOOR
The recent declaration of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar regarding allowing registration of the fourth floor as an independent unit has further added to the concern.
Punit Sethi, chairman, Indian Institute of Architects Haryana chapter, says, “As per the master plan, there should be 2.5 dwelling units per plot and 12.5 persons per plot. All infrastructure planning and provisioning of basic amenities like sewage, drinking water, green areas etc, have been done as per these density norms in all sectors across the state.”
Currently, the fourth floor is not being registered as an independent floor and can be a part of the third floor as duplex.
“But, if the declaration by the CM is turned into a notification as expected, then the dwelling units will increase to four from the current 2.5, which means density will increase by 1.6 times. This means that when occupancy in a sector reaches 62%, even then the infrastructure will come under immense pressure. As the occupancy increases further, infrastructure might even collapse,” says Sethi.
BEYOND GURUGRAM AND PANCHKULA
Most of the independent floors are coming up in Gurugram, where land prices are relatively high and builders try to exploit every piece of realty space for profits. “By diluting building norms for independent floors, the government may inadvertently encourage builders to construct illegal constructions by further stretching the builder rules,” says Sethi.
Architects expect that while currently Gurugram and Panchkula might be the major hubs of floor construction and selling, but in the longer run, dilutions in the building code will spread to other cities of the state as land becomes more expensive as housing demand increases. “Currently, the state has no such land pressure so as to necessitate such major dilution in the building norms,” said Sethi.
Even residents are expressing concern about these changes. “There are discussions going on between different citizens group as to what action should be taken. Regarding the recent statement of the chief minister regarding the registration of the fourth floor, we are waiting for the notification,” says RS Rathee, president, Gurugaon Citizens Society.
Architects and citizen groups have met government officials and raised the issue with departments concerned.
“We are trying to convey to the state administration the urban chaos these changes in the building norms that can create. There are serious security concerns also. In the smaller plots and older constructions having load bearing structures and not frame structure, additional two independent floors can create serious structural flaws. This may pose as danger to people’ life and security if and when an earthquake strikes the area,” cautions Sethi.
Some architects fear that the dilution in Haryana building rules might set a bad precedent for cities like Chandigarh.
“Such dilution of building rules is not at all warranted. There is lot of pressure on the UT administration to allow for such building norm relaxation in Chandigarh also, and the Haryana example will be used to further such a cause,” says Surinder Bahga, a Chandigarhbased architect.
There is a need for re-evaluating the recent changes made in the building code, say experts. Architect Renu Sehgal, former chief architect, Chandigarh, says, “The current piecemeal approach to the building norms should be re-examined. All aspects of changes, structural security and overall impact on infrastructure needs to be analysed before any changes are made to the building codes.”