As development gains momentum in Coimbatore, the need for greenery and lung space is also gaining importance.
The Local Planning Authority (LPA) insists that for plan approval, the area earmarked for open space reservation (OSR) should be handed over to the local body. About 10 per cent of the total plot was the area for the OSR. This was earlier applicable only for residential and commercial structures. However, with the Coimbatore Development Control Rules (DCR) now in place, the OSR is applicable for all structures, except industries, coming up on a minimum 2,500 sq.mt. plot. This space should be maintained as a park, says an LPA official here. ccording to V. Subramanian, President of Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) - Coimbatore, now the OSR should be abutting the main road. It should have accessibility from the main road or have a seven metre wide approach road. With the current land prices, this was difficult. Hence, the CREDAI had appealed to the Directorate of Town and Country Planning to permit a driveway of 10 feet width as approach road to the OSR area.
Public buildings such as educational institutions and hospitals usually came up on a vast area and it might not be viable to provide huge areas for OSR. In Chennai, the CMDA could purchase the OSR area at the guideline value. The area should be given to residential associations for maintenance, he said.
K. Kathirmathiyon, secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause, suggests that public buildings should be permitted to use the area for the purpose for which it was intended.
