84% of online building plans sanctioned

Over 84 per cent of the online applications for building plans received by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation so far have been sanctioned and only five per cent are pending.

All building plan applications went online in Delhi and Mumbai earlier this year, as per orders of the Union Urban Development Ministry. From April 8 till November 30, the north civic body received 1,113 applications for building plans, as per official data with The Hindu .

Of these, a total of 944 applications were sanctioned and 888 of those have already been released.

A total of 64 of the applications were referred back due to some shortcomings in the documentation, while 74 were rejected outright.

Fifty-six of the applications are pending with the corporation.

Speaking about the need to improve services, the chairperson of the Standing Committee, Parvesh Wahi, said that the civic body intended on expanding its online facilities.

“We have already started issuing building plans, trade licences and birth and death certificates online. There is a lot of awareness among people about these facilities, but we will continue to popularise the online services,” said Mr. Wahi.

Sanctioning of building plans has been one of major avenues for corruption in the local bodies, with widespread illegal construction across Delhi. With the online application process, the civic bodies are hoping to increase not only efficiency but also transparency.

So far, the highest number of online building plan applications were made in the Rohini Zone (452), followed by Civil Lines Zone (239) and Karol Bagh Zone (143).