Ahmedabad: Several societies in Vastrapur village have volunteered to give up portions of their land for road widening in exchange for expedited redevelopment of their societies, complete with taller buildings.According to the state’s comprehensive general development control regulations, the height of new constructions in urban areas is determined by the width of the roads around the constructions. Consequently, the redevelopment of societies located on narrow roads in Ahmedabad, including in Vastrapur, had been stalled.
Road widths in Vastrapur village are 7 metres, 7.5 metres, and 9 metres. As the development of old societies came to a halt, traffic congestion worsened. But the standing committee of the AMC has now authorized the municipal commissioner to widen the roads around the village. Societies in the vicinity will voluntarily provide land without any compensation, and the AMC will undertake the road-widening process, alleviating traffic problems and accelerating the redevelopment of old societies. Typically, proposals for road widening by the AMC are not approved on an emergency basis. When the development plan for Ahmedabad city is prepared, the corporation proposes to increase the width of certain roads. Once approved, the authority to widen roads is granted. However, if land from privately owned plots or society is deducted for road widening, compensation must be paid, which usually imposes a financial burden on the corporation. Therefore, after approving road-widening proposals, if a private society undergoes redevelopment, a margin is left according to the road line without any compensation. However, there is no deadline for this redevelopment, resulting in decades-long delays. The proposal approved by the standing committee says, “The development of Vastrapur village and its surrounding area took place years ago. A TP scheme was created by Auda covering Vastrapur village.” At that time, the proposal says, roads with widths of 6 metres, 7.5 metres, and 9 metres were approved based on the needs of that era. “Three- or four-storey residential societies were built on these roads years ago. Due to the narrow road widths, traffic congestion became a problem,” the proposal says. “Repeated requests were made to the state govt to widen roads for the redevelopment of these societies.” The proposal goes on to say, “To ease local needs and traffic issues, societies like Rajtilak Apartments, Tulsi Shyam Apartments, Chandrapuri Apartments, and Dharmjeevan Apartments voluntarily agreed to provide land for widening the roads adjacent to their societies.” The municipal commissioner has been authorized to widen the roads to 12 metres, the proposal says and adds that in this TP scheme, land deduction from plots reserved for public purposes will not occur.
