Greater Chennai Corporation(GCC) has been working with the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority(CMDA) to make the process of granting building approvals simple.
Making the process completely online, the civic body has now made it mandatory for all online documents to have the name and mobile number of the property owner. Earlier, the number of the license surveyor was only provided and updates on different stages in approval were given to them. That had created a nexus among license surveyors and corporation officials, leading to red tape in the approval process. Also, the civic body’s vigilance department and senior officials couldn’t cross check with owners if they faced difficulty in getting these approvals.
A senior corporation official from the works department said that for the past one month, several measures have been taken, including making the process completely online and avoiding any contact with department officials. Separate counters have been set up at all zonal officials and Amma Maligai building to aid property owners in collecting the hard copy of the building documents. “A timeline of 30 days has been given to all officials in all zones to provide approvals. We are reviewing it every 15 days to check if there are delays inapprovals,” the official said.
Before this new rule, the pendency was very high at different zones and at the main building. Currently, at all zones, all approvals are provided within 30 days and there are no pending approvals.
In a note issued to the deputy commissioner, works department, corporation commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi said that in the applications for the building plan approvals, the mobile number of the license surveyor is mentioned and the phone number of the actual property owner is not mentioned in the online database as well as in the application concerned. The senior corporation officials and the vigilance cell officials were unable to check and verify with the actual property owners on their feedback on the delays and other issues relating to building approval.
“It is henceforth made mandatory to ensure that the name of the property owner and actual phone number is mentioned in the application,” the note read.
All buildings (commercial and residential) below 5,000sqfeet should apply at the zonal offices and those above 5,000 but below 10,000 sqfeet should apply to the chief engineer, Town Planning, at Ripon Building. A list of documents to be submitted is available on the corporation website too.
