The controversial draft common zoning regulations, which will allow commercial use of land on all roads which are 29.5 ft or wider, received thousands of objections on Saturday with more than 6,000 objections being submitted by citizens’ groups and resident welfare associations alone. More than 10,000 objections were filed till Saturday afternoon with Monday being the deadline to file the responses.
Approximately 1,500 objections came from across Indiranagar, Defence Colony, and HAL, while around 560 objections were filed by residents of Richmond and Langford Town. Additionally, around 1,000-plus objections were filed from Koramangala and more from Hennur, RBI Layout, Banashankari, Cox Town, Kumara Park, Shastri Layout, and Vijayanagara were also submitted.
“Today, RWAs and citizens of Indiranagar and Koramangala, and several other areas have filed objections in a large number,” said Sridhar Pabbisetty, CEO of Namma Bengaluru Foundation. In addition, around 100 citizens gathered at the Directorate, Town and Country Planning Department at MS Building, to submit their objections in person and also met Shantala S, Deputy Director of the department. “She assured that every single objection letter will be read and considered. She also responded that once all the objections were processed, public consultations will be held in various locations,” a statement from Citzens for Bengaluru (CfB) read.
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Sneha Nandihal, president of the BM Kaval RWA in Indiranagar I Stage, said,“We are unable to understand the motive behind these new rules. It completely invalidates all the work being done for Bengaluru master plan and is in violation of High Court orders.” The list of objections to the proposed regulations state that the notification was against the 74th Amendment to the Constitution which provides for planning to be undertaken by the Metropolitan Planning Committee or the municipal body and not by the State government. The objections also state that the “right to life” of residents of the city will be challenged because of commercialisation, which is a violation of public trust.