Flats on Yamuna bank not illegal, says DMRC (Times of India 06 December 2010)

NEW DELHI: Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) is in a tussle with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation over a staff quarters near the Yamuna Bank Metro station. Irked by DUAC's statement that its project was " illegal" and that DMRC had misled the commission to get conceptual approval in 2007, the Metro body has hit back saying that all the approvals were in place. The commission claims DMRC had misled them while seeking conceptual approval in 2007. " At that time, DMRC and the consulting architect indicated that the land in question was an operational area under the zonal plan of the Master Plan. That is completely false and they misled us. The land was a riverbed area where such constructions are not allowed . DMRC should have applied for change of land use to DDA then and sought approval from the local body. However, they only applied for change of land use three years later," said a DUAC official . " More importantly, conceptual approval was not given for a housing project, which is clearly what the 90 flats being built are. We were very clear on that." DMRC, meanwhile, has come out strongly to defend the project and denied any wrong-doing on its side. " The land was allotted to DMRC for an operational project and this was brought to DUAC while seeking approval which was granted to us in January 2007. We even obtained permission from Yamuna Standing Committee . As far as change in land use is concerned, it is clarified that as per the new zonal development plan of Zone O (approved by the ministry of urban development on March 8, 2010), the site in question has been shown for the transportation land use," said a DMRC official. DMRC also stuck to their earlier stand, denying that the buildings were part of residential complex. " The quarters being constructed would be used by train operators and the maintenance staff of DMRC who work round-the-clock to maintain the corridor and the Yamuna depot. Therefore, these quarters will be used for 'operational' purpose," claimed a DMRC official. DUAC officials don't buy this argument. " These 90 flats are clearly designed for family use with three bedrooms , drawing, dining and kitchen area. They are also located a stone's throw away from the Games Village where the flats are priced at Rs 5 crore each. You can't get away with calling it as a operational construction just because operational staff will be staying there, possibly with families. As per the definition of the operational construction, housing is excluded ," said a source. DUAC sources added the proposal for staff quarters by DMRC should have been submitted to DUAC for formal approval through the concerned local body before the construction. Hence, they say, the commencement of construction is a violation of the DUAC Act. The Commission has also told DMRC to stop further construction. DMRC officials, however, say that they are not supposed to go back to DUAC after getting conceptual approval. " In any case, DUAC did not keep us in the loop before coming out with the minutes . They have not even written to us and given us a chance to clarify our stand. As far as we are concerned, all the approvals are in place. We are not going back," said a senior DMRC official.