Permission for digging and cutting into roads will now be granted online in a first-of-its-kind integrated portal, the Delhi government has said.
The step is in pursuance of a Cabinet decision taken last year in relation to which the Public Works Department (PWD) and the State Bank of India (SBI) signed a memorandum of understanding here on Friday.
The portal would enable road cutting agencies such as the MTNL, IGL, BRPL, TPDDL and DJB, among others, and road owning agencies like the PWD, New Delhi Municipal Council and the three Municipal Corporations onto a single online platform. “The application will enable the applicant to log into the website and mark the road which needs to be cut or dug. The length of the road to be cut will be calculated by the system,” the official further said.
Faster service
The advantages of the system, the official said, included a uniform charge at Rs. 3,500 per square metre for the restoration of the road after the services are laid, permission to be granted online within stipulated period after submission of application, payment through SBI Payment Gateway and transparency.
“The present system leads to overall delays and over-runs in project cost and time for both road owners and utility owners. It also leads to monetary loss, apart from the inconvenience to the public,” said a senior government official.
As per a proposal from the PWD, the Delhi Cabinet had, on June 6, given its nod for all requests on road cutting being processed online on an integrated platform. Geospatial Delhi Limited and Delhi e-Governance Society (DeGS) have designed and developed a web-based application which will bring together the two major stake holders in the process, the official said.
