Redevelopment plans for at least 28 MHADA housing societies in Mahavir Nagar, Kandivali West, covering more than 650 families, have been held up for several years over a dispute concerning pro-rata Floor Space Index (FSI).
MHADA developed Mahavir Nagar in the 1980s and 1990s and subsequently leased individual plots to housing societies. However, an unresolved issue over the availability of pro-rata FSI has emerged as a major obstacle, leaving several societies unable to proceed despite entering into Development Agreements with builders.
Pro-rata FSI is generally calculated by factoring in common infrastructure such as roads and open spaces and distributing the permissible development potential among plots in a layout. In Mahavir Nagar, the issue stems from MHADA not receiving physical possession of certain roads shown in the Development Plan (DP).
In a March 31 communication to the Mumbai suburban collector, MHADA stated that the Mahavir Nagar layout was planned with an FSI of 3. The township covers 58.644 acres, including 15.354 acres designated for roads, of which around 6.29 acres is encroached upon.
MHADA said 104.94 acres of vacant land belonging to J S Perera and others was declared surplus under the Urban Land Ceiling Act. Of this, 57 acres and 18 gunthas were earmarked for acquisition. However, only 42.94 acres were formally handed over in October 1980, while 14.06 acres remained outstanding. Of the land recorded as handed over, physical possession was obtained for only 23.69 acres.
“As this land was acquired under the ULC Act, MHADA did not actually receive the land meant for roads in the Development Plan, only the rights for access over and facilities in them. ‘Possession Given’ on various maps shows that the 42.94 acres were handed over to MHADA excluding DP road areas,” the housing authority said in its letter.
“As the road was never handed over to MHADA, the pro-rata FSI is unavailable to us,” said Bimal Maheshwari, chairman of Parijat Society, whose 112 members have signed a redevelopment agreement with Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate.
“Developers initially made offers based on the layout plans, which reflected an FSI of 3. However, after signing the development agreement and scrutinising the land records, they discovered that only 2 FSI was actually available.”
Maheshwari alleged that the missing FSI had been transferred by the landowner to a developer decades ago, affecting the redevelopment prospects of existing societies.
The redevelopment of Mahadev Society, a federation of 10 societies with around 300 members, has also stalled. “There are about 300 members across our 10 societies. The development agreement was signed with Paradigm Realty over a year ago, but the FSI-related challenges have resulted in a complete deadlock,” Rajendra Shinde, chief promoter of Mahadev Society told Hindustan Times.
At least 14 other societies, involving around 250 families, are reportedly facing similar uncertainty. Projects involving Veena Developers, Vaibhavlaxmi Developers and Je & Vee Infrastructure remain pending over the FSI dispute.
The redevelopment could move ahead only if developers revise their plans or the state government introduces a policy solution or grants a special concession for the affected societies.
Source: Hindustan Times
