Maharashtra government has decided to increase floor space index from half per cent to one per cent for constructions in the newly emerging townships near cities across the state.

Announcing this at a function in Pune, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said the decision to double the FSI for new urban townships has received the Cabinet nod.

He said the new townships would decongest big cities offering residential premises to a growing number of urban population.

The developers in these areas would be charged an extra amount by the government for the additional FSI which would be utilised for other projects, he said on Sunday.

Union Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who was present at the inauguration of Nanded City township project in Pune, said the government should lay down norms to reserve certain number of houses for the economically weaker sections of society in the new townships.