Pressing in for amendments in the Master Plan of Delhi 2021, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Monday passed a resolution to raise the cap over height of residential apartments to 17.5 metres.

Currently, Master Plan has put the cap on height of buildings at 15 metres. This, however, applies to only those apartments that opt for stilt parking on the ground floor. The MPD 2021 makes provision of stilt parking mandatory for all the upcoming buildings for getting apartment plans sanctioned by the civic bodies.

The private resolution passed by leader of House in North Delhi Corporation, Mahender Nagpal said that while older homes that do not have stilt parking have four-storeyed apartments (ground + three floors), new apartments are only being allowed three floors since the ground floor is used for creating the parking space. However, increasing the height of these buildings will add more residential space for the dwellers.

"The property owners are being forced to cut down on their space as the ground floor is being eaten away by the provision for parking. To prevent the loss, we passed a resolution demanding the height be increased to 17.5 metres," Nagpal said. The resolution will be sent to the lieutenant Governor for further approval. This is a supportive resolution as the final decision over amendment in the rules will be made by the DDA and the Urban Development Ministry that are already seized of the matter.

With stilt parking being mandatory for constructing a new house in the city, there has been constant demand from various Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) to the local bodies to remove the mandatory clause for stilt parking for any new construction. This clause of mandatory parking was introduced to curb the parking problems in the residential areas. However, the rule forces even those who have ample parking provision and want to start their house from ground floor to construct stilt parking and start their house from the first floor. This eats away the residential area.

Meanwhile, the advisory committee, headed by Delhi lt Governor Tejendra Khanna, as a part of the mid-term review of master plan has also that buildings that provision of stilt parking should be allowed to go up to 17.5 metres.