They claimed that new restrictions are not a solution given the significant demand for residential floors in the city and the need for establishing norms for buildings, the environment, and other issues associated with fourth floors.

Developers want the city’s infrastructure upgraded and the stilt-plus-four-floors policy reinstated. Builders claimed that because there is such a high demand for residential floors in the city, there is a need for establishing criteria for building, the environment, and other concerns associated with fourth floors.

On Thursday, the developers met with P Raghavendra, the chairman of the high-level committee established to look into the stilt plus four-floor issue. The developers are members of the Gurgaon Home Developers Association. The members argued that rather than outlawing such structures, the committee should develop norms, update the city’s infrastructure, and develop procedures to detect infractions.

External development costs were set in 2019 when registrations of the fourth floor as an independent residential area were permitted, and the government has already gotten about Rs 1,000 crore in that time, the members claimed in a report sent to the committee.

The association’s president, Narender Yadav, stated, “The property owner pays the fee for floor area ratio (FAR) and EDC costs to the government for the permission of fourth-floor development. In addition, since 2009, an additional 1% of stamp duty has been collected in the name of infrastructure improvement. Also, large funds are collected in the form of external development fees that are not used to build infrastructure or facilities.

On February 22, the state administration made the controversial decision to continue to allow the building of fourth floors in approved colonies and HSVP sectors.

The deadline to make comments on the fourth-floor issue has now been extended by one week by the Department of Town and Rural Planning, with a new deadline of April 13. The district town planner’s office has given instructions in this respect.