The successful implementation of online building plan management system (BPMS) in Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has provided major boost to realty sector and relief for architects. Not just this, but the system has also helped town planning department clear a building plan in record four working days.
Municipal commissioner Radhakrishnan B has made the BPMS more secure by introducing one time password (OTP) to prevent its misuse. Now, the officer concerned will get an OTP on his/her registered mobile number after keying in the password. The measure has been taken following the bogus contracts scam which was effected after ‘misusing’ username and password of a few staff members.
Secretary of CREDAI Nagpur Gaurav Agarwala told, “Building plan sanction has become easier and without human intervention. A month ago, one of the building plans was sanctioned within four working days in BPMS. Any architect, builder or common man can apply from any part of the country, see status of application, reply to queries from NMC engineers, pay charges and get the sanction online.”
“Now, there is no need for the applicant to visit the office of NMC town planning department and pursue the application from table to table,” he said.
After an unsuccessful attempt in July 2018, the NMC relaunched the BPMS from April 1 and reportedly stopped accepting plans or documents, charges etc offline. The Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) and Nagpur Metropolitan Region Development Authority (NMRDA) have started using the BPMS from July 1.
As per data on the government’s website, the NMC has sanctioned 282 out of 901 plans using BPMS in the last four months.
Agarwala said another major advantage of the BPMS is that each engineer is bound to clear the application in a time-bound manner. “Scrutiny of the plan is done automatically in BPMS. A plan will be sanctioned within 30 days if all documents are submitted,” he said.
Appreciating the BPMS, a young builder Shubham Kulkarni said a few more flaws need to be corrected. “Despite uploading staircase, height, balcony, dimension plan etc, engineers are unable to see them in BPMS at their end. Moreover, an applicant has to visit the NMC office after making payment online as engineers do not get message or receipt from bank in BPMS system, which also needs to be sorted out,” he said.
Regular workshops should be organized for architects, builders and also residential organizations so that a common man can also apply and get approval online, he added.
Due to lack of knowledge and other problems, many had to submit plans repeatedly.
Another flaw in the BPMS is that other departments are not linked with it. Because of this, the applicant has to submit plan and application offline with fire department, NIT, ULC department etc. The system should be modified so that town planning department itself forwards the plan to other departments for clearance, he said.
ABOUT BPMS
*State government launched BPMS in July 2018 to facilitate building plan sanction online
*Offline process was also allowed due to various flaws in BPMS
*Government launched unified DCPR which is same for all municipal corporations, excluding Mumbai, in December 2020
*BPMS was redeveloped incorporating unified DCPR
*NMC implemented revised BPMS on April 1 and has sanctioned 282 of total 901 plans
*One of the plans was sanctioned in record time — 4 working days — and many within a fortnight or prescribed 30-day period
*Civic chief made it more secure by adding OTP system
*Anyone can apply, pay charges and get sanction online
*Facility to check status of application provided
*As of now, BPMS has not been integrated with other departments
*Receipt of charges not visible to engineers
