Securing prior approvals for construction of highrises in the city could soon become a breeze. With BBMP developing a software, which will put in place a single-window clearance mechanism, builders will be spared the trouble of visiting multiple civic agencies for approvals.
“The Building Plan Approval System (BPAS) software is in its final stages and we will launch it soon,” said BH Anil Kumar, BBMP commissioner. The software is expected to be operational in a month.
“The software will allow an applicant to fill a form online, which will then be sent to all other civic agencies for approval. The application fee will be decided based on the land value,” he added.
The move comes in the backdrop of the World Bank deciding to also consider Bengaluru and Kolkata while arriving at India’s ease-of-doing business rankings. Till now, it had been considering only New Delhi and Mumbai. The BBMP’s single-window clearance system is expected to push up India’s ranking, which is currently 63.
The work on BPAS began after Kumar, mayor M Goutham Kumar and other Palike officials recently visited the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). MGCM has an online no objection certificate (NoC ) approval software through which all the required approvals are routed and people are said to be more than happy with the system. “The approvals are granted real-time and people are able to keep track of their applications,” said mayor Goutham Kumar.
“Soon, we will be implementing the same technology in BBMP. More than 10 agencies, including BWSSB, BESCOM, GAIL and BDA have to grant approvals for construction of highrises and this only delays things,” explained Anil Kumar.
According to another senior BBMP official, zonal officers have the power to sanction buildings less than 15 metres high, but anything above needs clearance from BBMP central office.
“In the current process, at least 90 days are lost in getting approvals from various agencies. Through BPAS one can get all the required approvals within 10 days,” said Anil Kumar.
Under BPAS, a date will be fixed for officials from various civic agencies to jointly visit the site for inspection. BPAS will also have a provision for ‘deemed approval’. If a civic agency doesn’t grant approval or raise an objection within the stipulated time, the project will be deemed to have got all clearances and any liability will fall on the civic body.
“The various civic agencies involved in granting approvals will have to get their act together, failing which they’d be held responsible for any violation,” said a senior BBMP official.
Confirming that all civic agencies are on the same page on BPAS, Anil Kumar said: “We are holding meetings with officials of other civic agencies and discussing the modalities.”
