PMRDA development plan: the 2021 draft is cancelled, so what should a Pune buyer check now?

Rules and rates as of 18 October 2026.

If you are looking at a flat or plot in Pune's fringe, outside the city corporations, a broker may show you a "PMRDA DP" map with your land in a residential zone. Be careful with it. The draft development plan behind most of those maps no longer exists in law.

This explainer sets out what happened to the PMRDA plan, what replaces it, which rules are in dispute, and what to check before you pay a booking amount.

The 2021 draft plan was cancelled in 2025

The Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) published a draft development plan for its area under section 26 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1966 on 2 August 2021. It drew objections and litigation. The Bombay High Court restrained action on objections received after publication on 3 August 2021.

On 26 September 2025, PMRDA's Metropolitan Commissioner issued a notice, printed in the Maharashtra Government Gazette of 27 September 2025. It rescinded three things: the 2017 declaration of intention to prepare a plan (section 23), the 2021 draft plan (section 26), and every objection and hearing procedure under section 28. The notice records that PMRDA told the High Court in 2025 it intended to withdraw the draft, and that the court disposed of the petitions as infructuous on 15 July 2025.

In plain terms, there is no draft or sanctioned PMRDA development plan in force today. A zone shown on a 2021 draft map is not a legal zone.

What replaces it: a "structure plan"

Maharashtra amended the MRTP Act in 2025. The Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Mah. Act XLIV of 2025, published 29 August 2025) adds a new kind of plan, the structure plan, in a new chapter (sections 42H to 42O). It is narrower than a development plan. It covers regional or town-level roads and public amenities, including transport, road widths, utilities, parks and conservation of natural areas.

The timelines in the Act are tight on paper:

• A town planning officer prepares a draft within six months of the section 42H notice, extendable by three months (section 42K).
• The public gets 30 days from the draft's gazette publication to object (section 42K(1)), and another 30 days if the plan is substantially changed (section 42N(3)).
• The state must sanction it within six months of receiving it, extendable by three months, or the draft is deemed sanctioned (section 42N).
• Land reserved for a purpose must be acquired within 20 years; after that the owner can serve a notice (sections 42N(8), 42O).
• In areas that are not a nagar panchayat, municipal council or D-class corporation, the plan's roads must be at least 18 metres wide (section 42J).

PMRDA's notifications page lists a declaration of intention to prepare a draft structure plan for its area under section 42H. We could not open the notice itself, so its date is unconfirmed. In a press note on a review meeting held on 17 June, Minister of State for Urban Development Madhuri Misal asked PMRDA to draft and implement the structure plan within 12 to 18 months. The note says building permissions had stalled because the plan was cancelled. Until the structure plan is ready, officials were asked to consider conditional permissions based on road planning zones. We found no published draft structure plan on PMRDA's site as of 18 October 2026.

Which building rules apply: sources disagree

This is where buyers and builders are most confused, and the official record is not consistent.

• PMRDA's own development permission page still says it applies the PMRDA DCPR-2018 rules across its region and UDCPR-2020 to the 23 villages merged into Pune Municipal Corporation. It also still refers to implementing the 2021 draft plan, which has since been rescinded.
• Punekar News and other outlets reported that on 15 July 2026 the state Urban Development Department issued a direction under section 154(1) of the MRTP Act. Under that direction, the state-wide Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations (UDCPR) apply across all of PMRDA and the Ring Road corridor, replacing DCPR-2018. We could not find or read that direction on an official site.

The difference matters. FSI, setbacks and road-width rules decide how much a builder can build on a plot. Ask the builder which rules the building permission was granted under, and check that the permission letter says so.

Where things stand

Instrument	Status on 18 October 2026	Basis
Draft PMRDA development plan, 2 Aug 2021	Rescinded	PMRDA notice, 26 Sep 2025
Section 23 intention to prepare a DP, 2017	Rescinded	Same notice
PMRDA structure plan	Intention declared; no draft seen	PMRDA notifications page; MRTP s.42H
Time to draft, object, sanction	6 + 3 months; 30 days; 6 + 3 months	MRTP ss.42K, 42N
Building rules (UDCPR vs DCPR-2018)	Disputed in sources	PMRDA page vs July 2026 news reports

Why a road line can cost you: a worked example

A structure plan's main job is roads and amenities, and it can reserve private land for them. Here is an illustrative case for a plot buyer. The figures are assumed, not from any real plot.

• Plot: 2,000 sq ft at ₹2,500 per sq ft. Price = 2,000 × ₹2,500 = ₹50,00,000.
• Suppose a proposed road takes a strip 12 ft deep along a 40 ft frontage. Area affected = 40 × 12 = 480 sq ft, or 480 ÷ 2,000 = 24% of the plot.
• Value you paid for that strip = 480 × ₹2,500 = ₹12,00,000.
• Usable area left = 1,520 sq ft, so your effective cost becomes ₹50,00,000 ÷ 1,520 = about ₹3,289 per usable sq ft.

Compensation for reserved land, whether in cash or transferable development rights, is a separate legal process with its own timelines. A lawyer can explain how it would apply to a specific survey number. The point is to find out before you pay, not after the draft is published.

Flat buyers face a smaller version of the same risk. If the approach road or an amenity space in a project shrinks, the builder may need a revised permission.

What to check before you book

1. Zone certificate. PMRDA lists a zone certificate and a part plan certificate among its right-to-services planning services. Ask for a current one for the survey number, not a 2021 draft map.
2. Building permission. Get a copy of the PMRDA commencement or building permission, and note which rules and which plan it cites.
3. MahaRERA page. For a project, compare the approved plans uploaded on MahaRERA with the brochure.
4. Structure plan draft. When it is published, the 30-day objection window is your one chance to object to a road or reservation over land you own or are buying.
5. Merged villages. If the land is in one of the 23 villages added to Pune Municipal Corporation in 2021, ask which body now plans it. The cancellation notice covers that area too.