BENGALURU: After Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s recent statement that the state government is coming up with a new law to ban basement parking in buildings/apartments located in low-lying and flood-prone areas, the Urban Development Department issued a draft notification on June 12 to consider the ground floor as ‘stilt floor’ and reserve that space completely for vehicle parking, in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) limits.
It is said the idea is to address traffic congestion due to street-side parking, especially in residential areas, and also to avoid damage to vehicles in flooding during heavy rain.
The new rule is part of zoning rules of the Revised Master Plan of the Bangalore Local Planning Area, 2015. The ground floor of buildings already constructed, which have proposal for modification, buildings under construction and to be constructed in BBMP and BDA limits will have to include stilt parking floor, and its height shall not exceed 4.50metres, the notification stated.
As per the notification, the stilt floor shall be used for vehicle parking only, and its misuse shall not be permitted under any circumstances. “In case of misuse of the stilt floor, action shall be initiated as per law against such violations, including closure of the stilt floor, and Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) and Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) shall not provide service connections for such buildings,” it said.
In non-residential buildings, if a stilt floor is misused for any purpose other than parking, trade licences shall be confiscated or not even issued. However, the Bengaluru Apartment Federation (BAF) called the idea a knee-jerk reaction.
“We are in 2025 and there is no point going back. The stilt parking rule is only a knee-jerk reaction, they should take data, check for permanent parking, and check if it is domestic parking. The traffic police, UDD, BBMP should sit together and come up with a holistic solution. The city is facing infrastructure problems due to which traffic is hit,” said Vikram Rai, BAF president.
R Rajagopalan from Bengaluru Coalition said increasing the height of the stilt floor, as announced in the BBMP budget 2025-26 without public consultation or prior notice, is purportedly meant to discourage street parking. “The lack of enforcement of current bye-laws being so abysmal, it does not help in providing open-ended, unconditional allowance to exceed height limits. These should be strictly applicable for future plan sanction and plotted developments, and where road width is greater than 40 feet,” he stated.
The UDD has called for objections and suggestions to be sent to its office at Vikasa Soudha, within 30 days from the date of publication of the draft notification.