City corporations to be brought under commissionerate

THE HINDU

MANGALURU, July 28, 2015

Minister for Urban Development Vinay Kumar Sorake said here on Monday that the government will constitute a commissionerate by bringing all city corporations in the State under it.

It will be headed by a commissioner and will help to speed up administration.

With this the city corporations do not need to send their proposals to the Directorate of Municipal Administration and then to the Secretary of the Urban Development Department for approval.

The commissioner of the commissionerate would be given powers to clear the proposals, he said.

In addition, the Minister said that all urban development authorities, such as the Mangaluru Urban Development Authority, the Mysuru Urban Development Authority, would be brought under a Commissioner.

The two senior appointments would be made within two months.

Referring to the smart city project of the Union government, he said that the Centre has asked the State to send the proposals of six city corporations as per the guidelines mentioned. It would be done accordingly.

To make Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) more attractive for land-losers, the Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Bill, 2015, enhanced the TDR from the present 1.5 times of the cost of the land lost to two times of the cost of the land lost. The Legislative Assembly has passed the Bill last week, he said.

The Minister said that rules for double TDR would be framed once the Legislative Council approved the same. Linking the double TDR to FAR (floor area ratio) would ensure that the property owner got four times compensation for the land that one gave up for any public work, he said.

For example, if a person gave up two cents of land for a project, he/she got TDR for the value of four cents of land.

The property owner could sell the TDR so earned to a builder who could increase FAR on the property where they intend to construct a building.

If a builder is licensed to construct five floors on a plot of land, using the TDR, the builder can henceforth put an additional floor on the same plot of land, the Minister said.