Instead of restricting FSI, Cancel Go No 50

Is the Telangana government going to give another jolt to the Hyderabad real estate sector? With various reasons already causing a decline in the construction sector, including issues with Hyderabad, will there be another shock? The answer seems to be yes. It is reported that the government is making efforts to impose restrictions on unlimited FSI. However, there are different opinions on this. One group is strongly advocating for the imposition of control over FSI, while another group argues that if FSI control is implemented, Hyderabad will lose its uniqueness. However, instead of these two perspectives, revoking GO No. 50 introduced by KTR in 2019 would provide a solution to the problem. Do you know how?

The late Chief Minister YSR’s government approved GO No. 86 in 2006, which made unlimited FSI available. Later, in 2012, some improvements were made to the GO. It included a rule that allowed a setback of 16 meters from the meter height to 55 meters in height. However, for every additional 5 meters beyond 55 meters, an additional 0.5 meters of setback was required. This meant that if someone wanted to build an apartment higher than 55 meters, they had to leave a setback of 0.5 meters for every 5 meters from the ground up. As a result, this was not very beneficial for builders. Because of this, almost all builders, except for one or two percent, built apartments only up to 20 floors.

In 2019, the BRS government made a significant change by removing the requirement for an additional 0.5-meter setback for construction beyond 55 meters in height. This decision was made after a construction association from Hyderabad sent a letter to the government. As a result, the government’s decision turned out to be a huge benefit for landowners. With the unlimited Floor Space Index (FSI) and the removal of the setback rule, construction on an acre, which initially used to be limited to a minimum of 1.5 lakh square feet, started to grow to 4-5 lakh square feet. Some even started building up to 6 lakh square feet per acre. Because of this, the majority of builders are now asking the government to revoke GO No. 50, which was brought in with amendments to GO 168. In this regard, the Naredco Telangana has already submitted a petition to the government. Now, it remains to be seen what actions the Telangana government will take on this matter.