The city s skyline has changed drastically over the years, thanks to the burgeonin g real estate market.

But in the course of development, we sometimes tend to ove rlook the importance of open spaces and greenery. That s precisely why the Tamil N adu Town and Country Planning Act mandated that a substantial portion of a large layout be set apart as Open Space Reservation (OSR). This came into effect in 1 976. Join us on Twitter | Join us on LinkedIn | Join us on Facebook The primary o bjective of OSR is the creation of lung spaces. It is seen as the contribution o f the plot owner to public welfare, says Louis Menezes, Convener, Transparency In ternational, Tamil Nadu Chapter (a global civic society organisation against cor ruption) and Former Special Officer, Corporation of Chennai. As per law, if the size of the plot is 3,000 sq m or more, 10% of the land should be reserved for o pen space. If the plot size is between 3,000 sq m and 10,000 sq m, developers/pl ot owners have the option of either demarcating 10% of the land for OSR or (in c ase of physical constraints in setting apart land) paying the guideline value of the OSR land to the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA). For plot sizes beyond 10,000 sq m, OSR (10% of the plot size) is mandatory. According to CMDA officials, the amount paid as guideline value will be used to support and address environment-related issues in the city. Earlier, most of the development s in the city were in the form of layouts, and local bodies were responsible for maintenance of OSR in these layouts. R Kumar, Managing Director, Navin Housing and Properties Ltd, explains, The owner of the layout had to hand over the OSR to the local body, which was entrusted with the responsibility of creating a park or a green space in the area. With the influx of large scale developments commer cial blocks and residential apartments, the process of handing over OSR to local bodies grew complicated. These local bodies were reluctant to develop and maint ain these spaces, as they saw the additional expenditure on parks, as a burden. So, the CMDA took up this responsibility in the late 90s. Once the developer submi ts his/her plan to the CMDA for approval, it is subject to scrutinisation, and O SR is one of the chief criteria for approval. An official from CMDA says, The dev eloper has to execute a gift deed to the CMDA while handing over the OSR land. W e, in turn, hand over this land to the Corporation of Chennai, which is the loca l body in the city responsible for creation and maintenance of green cover in th e OSR. Beyond city limits, the respective Municipalities take on the job of main taining these spaces. And this is exactly where the disparity arises. Once develo pers submit the gift deed, they have no rights over the OSR land it officially b elongs to the Corporation or the local body in charge. Unless the local bodies a ct immediately and create green spaces and parks in the OSR, the land either rem ains vacant or is taken over by encroachers, used as parking lots, etc, all of w hich are illegal, as they defeat the central purpose of the OSR. The Corporation s present drive to retrieve OSR land from developers has met with mixed responses. While it is generally touted as a good initiative, some believe that it sends ou t a wrong message and projects developers in poor light. Louis Menezes explains, The question of retrieving OSR land does not arise at all, because these lands w ere vested with the Corporation, to begin with; the buidings/plots would not hav e been approved if they had not reserved open space and submitted the gift deed to CMDA. Also, these lands have no monetary value attached to them you cannot qu antify the value of a green space. These lands have been pending with the Corpor ation, for years, and the officials from the Corporation have only now, after re peated requests from the CMDA, realised the need to create green spaces in these areas. What took the local body so long? The CMDA official cites the lack of awa reness as one of the reasons. That apart, the local bodies have other priorities like laying of roads, drains, etc and converting OSR land into green spaces is g iven least importance, he adds. One of the other points of debate with regard to OSR is: Can developers create and maintain parks in open spaces or is it strictl y the responsibility of the local body? The CMDA official clarifies, Although it is the local body s responsibility to create and maintain parks in the OSR area, d evelopers can take the initiative as well. The land is leased to them by the Cor poration and the lease needs to be renewed every year. Take Ramesh Reddy, Managin g Director, Chaitanya Builders, for example. He designed a park in a layout righ t next to his residential project, Ficus Grove, in MRC Nagar. The layout was part

of the OSR (about 10-12 grounds) of another project in the area, but it was bei ng used as a dumping ground. To safeguard the interests of the occupants of my p roject, I approached the Corporation and asked them to take action. But they sai d they did not have enough funds, so I sought permission to create and maintain the park myself, he adds, arguing that developers must be given the option of put ting up parks and maintaining them in the OSR land. The CMDA insists that the la nd reserved for open space must abutt the existing road to ensure public access. Developers, however, are questioning the need for public access to parks create d on OSR land within residential complexes. R Kumar says, When a customer buys an apartment, the cost of OSR is also loaded on to the cost of the apartment. So i t is only fair that inmates of the apartment be given priority over outsiders wh ile using the park. Despite these debates, it is apparent that OSR is a step towar ds promoting green cover in the city. With increasing awareness among authoritie s, developers and the general public, one hopes that this space is taken more se riously and put to the right use.