UP Govt Bans Construction Within 200 Meters of Ganga to Protect River

The government of Uttar Pradesh is going out of its way to safeguard the Ganga River by prohibiting building near its banks within a 200-meter radius.

Moving one step further towards the protection of the Ganga, the govt of Uttar Pradesh has chose to prohibit construction work within 200 meters of the river.

For the first time, the proposed draft of the building byelaws, soon to be notified, spells out the type of construction work to be allowed on the banks of the sacred river.

The byelaws would, however, permit repair, renovation and conservation activities at the old buildings close to the Ganga.

What remained a grey area till now in some towns on the Ganga, the new guidelines would permit ashram construction, monasteries and temples at major pilgrimage centers with riders – like the ground coverage of 35 per cent should have a floor area ratio (FAR) of 1.5.FAR is the measure which controls total constructible space that may be developed over property.

For instance, a piece of land size 5,000 sqft should have area of build-up as 7,500 sqft with FAR of 1.5 and 10,000 sqft if FAR would be 2.In addition, owners of property would need to provide a guarantee that construction work would not contaminate the Ganga and disposal of building material and wastewater outfall from the property would be in line with the norms.

Likewise, prohibitions would be put in place in the event the National Green Tribunal or a court has controlled construction work in other rivers.

The draft also instructs the housing development department to execute the provisions of sectoral-wise policies given by the UP govt.

For industrial development, UP govt has launched 33 sectoral policies to invite investment in different sectors by providing extra incentives and exemptions to entrepreneurs and business people.Providing some examples, a high-ranking officer from the planning department explained that FAR, height of building, and use of ancillary space are different for industries.

While for residential, group housing, and commercial buildings, FAR is between 1.5 to 3, govt has permitted FAR up to 4.5 for some industries.