Haryana government allows more ground coverage on plots, relief for owners

The state government has amended the Haryana Building Code, 2017, allowing more ground coverage which will help in constructing more areas on plots owned by them, said the officials on Thursday.

The move came as a major relief to the property owners, said the officials, adding that the government has also allowed single level basement areas for all plots, reiterating that “no violation of the ground coverage norms will be tolerated”.

According to an order issued by the additional chief secretary of town and country planning department (DTCP) on April 25, the ground coverage has been increased from 66% to 75% for plots covering up to 250 square metres (sqm), and the maximum floor area ratio (FAR) for plots covering up to 100sqm would be 165%, and those between 100sqm and 250sqm would be 145%.

The ground coverage for plots measuring between 250sqm and 350sqm has been increased from 60% to 66%, and the maximum FAR allowed would be 130%. The government has also increased the ground coverage of plots from 350sqm to 500sqm, and from 60% to 66%, while the maximum FAR allowed for this category would be 120%. Owners of bigger plots ranging from 500sqm to 1,000sqm will also be able to cover 66% of the area, instead of the previous 60%, while the maximum FAR allowed for these plots would be 100%. FAR is the ratio of a building’s total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land on which it is built.

RS Bhath, district town planner (enforcement), said that this had been a long pending demand of the property owners in the district, and this will help them in utilising the plot areas better. “Land is very costly nowadays, and these changes have will ensure optimum utilisation of plot areas. More ground coverage will allow the people to construct more structures within a given land. These changes are also likely to reduce building plan violations,” Bhath said.

The developers meanwhile said that this was a welcome move by the government and would cut the waste of area, which happened due to low ground coverage allowed earlier. “With this step we have been brought at par with Delhi as far ground coverage is concerned. Plots are so expensive and it was essential that ratio of built up area was increased so that underutilization of area in a plot does not happen. We want to request the government to allow an element of compounding of five to seven percent area as per the earlier policy,” said Narender Yadav, president, Gururgam Home Developers Association.