The days of manual verification and clearance of building plans are going to be over soon. The Urban Development Department is going to put in place an integrated software to check property ownership, khata, and other records while approving building plans. It will also verify the position regarding electricity and water/ sanitation connections and approve them along with the construction plan. It may also deal with layout plans for clearance.
Before detailing the features of the proposed Building Plan Approval System (BAPS), let us have a look into the conundrums of the present manual system. First of all, there is no centralised agency in the present dispensation. Historical data like particulars of earlier clearances, drawings, existing water/electricity lines are also not readily available on the platform.
The Escoms and BWSSB are working in isolation, without proper coordination. Collection of charges is again handled by the accounts department of each agency independently.
Approval process
The present system contains the following steps:
Studying of rules, both general and specific, like residential, commercial, multi-purpose, special economic zones etc.
Drawing and copying thereof.
Laying down specifications.
Specifying quality and quantity of materials.
Fixing of supervisory requirements.
Broad features of proposed BAPS
Mapping of development control rules
Automation
Digitalisation
Standardisation
Submission of application on CD
Pre-sanction inspection by officials with prior intimation through SMS
Capturing of site visit report/photograph on suitable devices
Scrutiny of ownership of land
Automatic scrutiny
Generation of report
Benefits of BAPS
Some of the major benefits would be:
Rules and guidelines-based approach
Integration of different inputs
Quick disposal of applications
Transparency
Easy fixation of responsibility and accountability
Technology-based work flow.
One platform for all stakeholders
Integration of existing programmes.
Existing services like online management and delivery of land records under the Bhoomi project and online payment of stamp duty and registration charges under the Kaveri programme will be merged into the proposed software. Property tax details will be another programme interface with the proposed single platform software. It is expected that once the proposed software stabilises it will be possible to provide building plan approvals within one to three days. Power, water and drainage sanctions will also form part of the approval.
The software will contain the CDP requirements like setback, open area, floor area ratio regulations, road width, drainage stipulations etc., which can be automatically verified before the sanction approval and human errors are totally eliminated. Ownership and khata will also be verified along with the title documents by interfacing with the survey sketch of the land which will also be uploaded along with other documents. Any violation in the legal requirements will be identified and if required, queries will be generated for rectification. If there is any legal lacunae, the application will be rejected ab initio.
Payment of fees and deposits can also be made online for which challans can be generated through commands. The objective of the project is to reduce human interference to the maximum, if not altogether.
