Dispel the confusion by first defining ‘gated communities’

There have been a lot of discussions about ‘gated communities’ of late, and there is confusion in the minds of home-owners and a few developers about the government policy in this regard.

The recent statement by the BDA commissioner that gated communities are illegal has once again drawn our attention to the issue. The term ‘gated’ is not clearly defined in planning law. The phrase probably refers to a group of people living in a collection of commonly-developed homes behind a gate.

That immediately leads us to think of the Mantris, Tatas, Shobas and brand-name developers. But hold on, what about LIC or BSNL quarters or Senior Police Officers’ quarters? These are also behind a gate and include commonly-developed homes. In some cases, they also open on to two different roads. Are these illegal too?

It is true they are not usually as posh as the newer developments, but since the law applies equally to well-maintained as well as neglected properties, and to old ones as well as new ones, we must assume these are also equally on wobbly footing.

Whatever definition of ‘illegal housing’ is used, it is easy to find government-built communities themselves that would be illegal, by that definition; also, countless rubber stamps from government planning agencies approving such illegal developments by private developers in the past — BDA itself has approved hundreds of gated communities so far.

Government planners have been doing an ordinary job for decades, and the public no longer has any confidence in their planning ability. So consumers, especially those who can afford better homes, have been abandoning the government-led developments in favour of private ones.

Consider what happens in a typical planning agency. Each developer’s proposal for development is examined and approved by the authorities as though nothing else exists around it. The Town and Country Planning Act requires each area of the city to be developed according to a town planning scheme, but I have never seen even one so far. Naturally, when you add up the various jigsaw pieces that have been ‘approved’, it looks quite awful. And it has been that way for decades.

The old areas of Basavangudi and Whitefield, which pre-date even Independence by decades, look much tidier than the layouts put up by the modern planners. Same is true of Cantonment. It’s also been more than a century since anyone created a new lung space for the city.

(To be concluded)

— The writer is a member of ABIDe and with the Center for Public Policy at IIM Bangalore