The state government had amended the development control regulations (DCR) to ensure that occupants of cessed buildings got 300 square feet carpet area houses after the old buildings were redeveloped. Now, it plans to extend the incentives under regulation 33 (7), currently applicable to cessed buildings, buildings that were once cessed but are no longer so.

Senior officials from the state urban development department, which has submitted such a proposal, said it was necessary, for the sake of residents’ safety, to give out incentives for the reconstruction of these old buildings.

Under regulation 33 (7), cessed buildings get an FSI (floor space index) of 2.5, or the FSI equivalent to the total of the rehabilitation FSI and the incentive FSI, whichever is higher. The incentive FSI in turn, depends on the number of plots, and varies from 50 per cent for two plots, 60 per cent for two to five plots and 70 per cent for over five plots.

“This is a big bonanza for non- cessed buildings which were cessed earlier,” the official added, stating that the buildings had ceased to be cessed ones as housing societies had stopped paying cess.

Mumbai has around 16,000 cessed buildings, which house an approximate 20 lakh people, and the number of such cessed buildings converted to non-cessed number is around 100. Without the 33 (7) incentive, these buildings would get just the base FSI of 1.33 if developed individually.

The cess is collected by the BMC as part of property tax and given to the state government, which deposits it in the consolidated fund. The BMC takes 10 per cent collection charges. The state government, in turn, ploughs back the cess collection to the Mumbai Repair and Reconstruction Board to maintain and repair such buildings.

The state government had recently amended rule 33 (7) to allow occupants to get reconstructed flats with a carpet area of at least 300 square feet. According to the regulation, redevelopment can be undertaken on pre-1940 cessed buildings on BMC land. According to the BMC’s guiding principles, the BMC, the housing society of tenants and occupants and the developer will have to sign a tripartite agreement.

The government had also made it mandatory for developers to sign a separate agreement with the tenants/ occupants for redevelopment. This was because the tenants felt insecure when the developers did not sign an individual agreement with them; hence they needed legal protection.