The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government has initiated a move to recast building rules to boost work under the urban renewal mission in Calcutta.

The government has realised, officials said, that the current rules are restricting renovation of old ?housing stocks? and construction of new buildings in place of those that need to be demolished immediately.

?The growing interest in Calcutta calls for pragmatic building rules that will encourage investors to join infrastructure and real estate projects,? said an official.

At a meeting last week, chief minister Bhattacharjee had directed municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya and mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya to take steps to modify the building rules.

?They are a hurdle in the rapid renewal of Calcutta,? he had said. ?We need to take note of the pressures of urbanisation and the changing face of urban life, and start framing pragmatic building rules that will also address the socio-economic reality.?

Explaining ?pragmatic and transparent rules?, director-general (building) G.C. Mondol said: ?The concessions that can be allowed for rebuilding an old structure, full of tenants, in an area like Burrabazar or Sealdah, cannot be extended to other cases.?

According to him, the fire-ravaged Manohardas Katra, in Burrabazar, could not have been rebuilt in 1997 unless the civic body allowed construction on an ?as-built? basis.

Thousands of buildings have been declared ?unsafe?, but neither the owners nor developers are interested in renovating or reconstructing them because of the liability of resettling tenants and the rigidity of the building rules.

Besides, the director-general pointed out, some of the rules clash with the CMDA?s Land Use and Development Control Planning Act. For instance, the Act says no construction can be allowed if the width of the road in front of a plot is less than three metres. No such bar exists in the civic rules.