S+4 issue: Many internal roads in Gurugram only 5 metres wide, HC told
Less than a month after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the setting up of a panel to look into the actual width of roads in Gurugram residential areas while acting on a bunch of petitions against stilt-plus-four (S+4) construction, the Bench was today told that the width of several internal roads ranged between 4 and 5 metres.
The information came during the hearing of petitions filed in public interest before the Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry. Appearing for the petitioners in one of the matters, counsel Nivedita Sharma referred to the portions of the commission’s report.
The Bench was told certain roads had a wall-to-wall width of 10 to 12 metres, but the motorable metalled portion in several cases was between 4 and 4.8 metres. Specific stretches measured included 4.5 meters in DLF Phase 1 (A31), 4.6 meters (A41 and A36), 4.5 to 4.8 meters on market roads, 3.9 meters in a stretch of Sector 28, and 4 meters on another 10-metre-wide road, where the usable carriageway was substantially reduced.
The Bench was also told that a visit to seven to eight sites revealed that the effective motorable width did not exceed 4 to 5 metres. Photographs showed cars parked on either side of the roads.
The panel was set up following contrary stands by parties on the previous date of hearing on the actual road width in residential areas, where S+4 construction was being allowed.An expert committee had recommended nod to construction in areas with roads having 12-metre width, but the state reduced it to 10 metres. However, the width of internal roads in Gurugram was not 10 metres.
The state, on the other hand, submitted that S+4 construction in old areas was being allowed only on roads with 10-metre width. For future projects, it would be allowed along roads with a minimum width of 12 metres. It also submitted that infrastructure augmentation would be done from the funds collected from S+4 approvals.
Earlier, the Bench was told that the government had banned new stilt+4 approvals in 2023, following widespread concerns from resident welfare associations and residents regarding the inability of Gurugram’s infrastructure to cope with the increased population and traffic that would result from such constructions.
Acknowledging the gravity of the concerns, the respondents constituted an expert committee on March 16, 2023, led by the Chairman of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board, to study the situation and make recommendations.
The committee engaged with various stakeholders and examined over 26,000 responses from the public, including online and offline submissions. It found that the existing infrastructure, including water and power supply and sewerage, was inadequate to support additional load.
The committee stated that no further approval for such construction be granted unless an infrastructure capacity audit was conducted. Despite the recommendations, the respondents issued the impugned notification allowing the resumption of the constructions without conducting the audit or upgrading the civic services.
