Buildings up to 15.5m in height in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) area will no more require a no-objection certificate, or NOC, from the fire department, according to an amendment passed by the Assembly on Friday.
So long, buildings above 14.5m in height required a mandatory clearance from the fire and emergency services department.
Before 2009, the KMC used to ask for NOCs from the fire department if a building was taller than 14.5m. But the new building rules of the KMC, which were introduced in 2009, changed the height and made the fire department’s NOC mandatory for buildings taller than 15.5m.
But similar changes were not made to the fire department’s rules, as a result of which the owners of all buildings up to 15.5m continued queuing up for the NOC.
“A proposal on relaxing the limit by one metre had come to the fire department from the KMC some time back. A technical committee was set up to examine the proposal before introducing an amendment in the form of a bill,” Sujit Bose, minister for fire and emergency services, told The Telegraph.
“Since the Assembly passed the bill today, those planning to construct buildings up to 15.5 metre in height needn’t come to the department for any clearance. They can just go ahead with the construction.”
Officials in the fire and emergency services department said an amendment to the West Bengal Fire Services Act in 1996 had made it mandatory for all buildings above 14.5 metres to have an NOC from the department.
“Since the rules of the fire department and that of the KMC were not in sync, those planning to build a house up to 15 metres would have to queue up for an NOC even with a sanctioned building plan,” said an official in the KMC’s building department.
A KMC official said the limit was increased by one metre as builders complained that the height of each floor became very short if a five-storey building had to be built within 14.5 metres to avoid approaching the fire department for the NOC.
A five-storey building 14.5m high will have floors 9.5ft in height, while a five-storey building 15.5m high will have floors 10.17ft in height.
Builders said the move would be of great help to those planning to construct a five-storey building in a spacious manner. The ceiling height for the apartments in such buildings can be extended now, giving the feel of a bigger apartment on each floor, they said.
“To avoid seeking an NOC from the fire department, the ceiling height of a five-storey building would be usually kept within three metres,” said Rabin Roy, a senior partner of a construction firm in Kolkata.
“With this clearance, the owner will have the freedom to play around with the height. This will make a lot of difference.”
With builders complaining of the legal tangles and the formalities to be completed, the civic authorities forwarded a proposal to the urban development department seeking a change to the act of the fire services department for granting the NOC.
The proposal was forwarded to the fire services department and an amendment bill was introduced. It was unanimously passed by the Assembly on Friday.