PUNE: The PCB has initiated an exercise to frame new building bylaws for its civil and bungalow areas, following recent directives from the Directorate General of Defence Estates (DGDE). The scope of the exercise does not encompass the exclusive military zone within these limits.
The move will decide the fate of construction activity in the cantonment areas, sprawling over 2,954 acres of land, of which at least 250 acres are in the civil pockets. The remaining area is in the military zone, including the bungalow areas.
In fact, officials of Khadki (KCB) and Dehu Road (DCB) cantonment boards confirmed to TOI that they too are framing such new building bylaws as per DGDE directives.
A senior official from the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) engineering section told TOI, “We have initiated preliminary work on the project and are hiring a private agency to expedite the scientific exercise.”
The cantonment has given 1 floor space index (FSI) for construction in civil pockets and 0.5 FSI for bungalow areas. However, over the years, residents and activists have been demanding 2 FSI for civil zones and 1 FSI for bungalow areas to construct proper houses.
“Ultimately, it is the question of about 2,500 properties in the civil areas, where only repair is allowed. It has affected the population severely as people could not construct or expand their houses due to the restrictions,” pointed out activist Rajabhau Chavan based in Camp.
The issue of building bylaws has become contentious across all cantonments in the country. To address this concern, the Union defence ministry (MoD) also asked all cantonments to prepare draft building bylaws a decade ago in 2015. However, it has not approved these till date.
Meanwhile, the MoD also constituted the Sumit Bose Committee on cantonment reforms. The panel categorically recommended awarding FSI in civil areas at par with the adjacent municipal corporations. However, the ministry also ignored that recommendations for unknown reasons, cantonment officials said.
A senior official of the DGDE, choosing anonymity, told TOI, “The latest initiative to frame bylaws has been taken to have ‘Plan B’ ready in case the merger of civil pockets into Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits does not take place in the future. In case the merger does not get state govt’s nod due to any issue, we will have a ‘people-friendly’ new building bylaw in place.”
In the PCB merger proposal, which is pending with state govt, FSI restrictions near military zones have already been recommended.
“But once you merge civil pockets with municipal corporations, the final call rests with the latter on building permissions. It would then be difficult for the military authorities to have their ‘strong say’ like they do today. So, the merger has become a very delicate and tricky issue for the ministry,” another senior DGDE official said.
At the same time, a section of senior defence officials described the bylaws drafting move as a ‘futile exercise’.
“One needs to understand that the MoD failed to resolve the FSI issue due to various reasons for the past four decades. Secondly, it took a firm stance to merge civil pockets with municipal corporations in the last six years. In fact, it has not even resolved any financial issues, including the GST tax issue, in the last decade. All these scenarios go against the cantonment boards across the country. Now, MoD wants fresh building bylaws. It is nothing but a futile exercise,” activist Peter Durairaj from Secunderabad Cantonment told TOI.
