After Delhi coaching centre deaths, Gurgaon cracks down on illegal use of basements

MCG Commissioner Dr Narhari Singh Bangar said that if any coaching centre is found violating norms, action is being taken to seal it.

Since June last year, the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTP) has sent 1,150 notices to those running businesses/offices and other commercial establishments out of basements and conducted 750 sealing drives.

DTP (Enforcement) Manish Yadav said they conduct routine site visits to crack down on violations: “No one can run any business out of basements. They can only be used for parking and storage. We send show-cause notices, then a restoration order, after which either an FIR is filed or the basement is sealed.”

Senior officials said several malls and residential plots in South City, Sushant Lok, and DLF Phase 4 have businesses running from their basements.

In Sushant Lok, a residential area, several owners rent their basements for extra income. A tenant, on condition of anonymity, said that they live in the basement of a building with little ventilation, but the rent amounts to Rs 8,000 as opposed to Rs 30,000 paid by tenants on other floors of the same building.

What can a basement be used for?

According to the Haryana Building Code, 2017, a basement can be only constructed for storing household or other goods of ordinarily non-combustible material; they can function as strong rooms, bank cellars, etc; air-conditioning equipment and other machines used for services and utilities of the building can be stored. It can also be used as a car wash, security room, ticketing booth, driver waiting room, toilets, for loading/unloading activities, as lift/escalator lobbies and for parking.

Automated laundry shall also be allowed, but only in the basement of hotel and hospital/nursing home sites, group housing, service apartments, as ancillary services for the purpose for which permission is granted by the competent authority.

Moreover, access to the basement shall be separate from the main one and there must be an alternate staircase providing access and exit from higher floors.

Fire officials said while approving the NOC, they check the basement for requirements mentioned in the building code; if conditions are met, they provide it for three years in case of buildings below 16.5 metres and five years for those above this height.

This is according to a new rule under the Haryana Fire and Emergency Services Act, 2022. Before this, all establishments needed to seek renewal of fire-safety certificates every year.

There is a rider in the building code: except for these uses, the basement may be used for habitable purposes subject to the fulfilment of fire safety, light and ventilation, and exit provisions. In this case, the area will be counted towards the total covered area of the building.

Gulshan Kalra, Deputy Director, Haryana Fire Services, said that they organise campaigns regularly to crack down on violations including in PGs. “We are aware of the violations and conduct inspections regularly to check these,” he said.

Fire officials said many PG facilities do not seek certificates, as they cannot comply with the rules, and house people in the basement, flouting more rules.

“Since parking, ventilation and light are necessary for basements, builders get electricity and water connections, which they use to run commercial activities,” a fire officer said.