Planning agencies and local bodies are set to have consultations with stakeholders to improve the process of granting planning permission for building construction in Chennai and suburbs.
The need for obtaining multiple NOCs (no objection certificate) from line agencies, duplication of process and inadequate work done in the past to integrate the e-services with planning permission applications online have been the main reasons for a delay in approval.
Officials said people had started submitting representations pertaining to delay in approval of building construction projects in Chennai.
Former Greater Chennai Corporation Council floor leader V. Sukumar Babu said various stakeholders and residents had demanded a proper study of the issues in measurements given in land records by the Revenue Department.
Procedural delays
CREDAI Tamil Nadu president Suresh Krishn said the approval process had been delayed because of the requirement of physical copy for record available online.
The average time taken for approval of a building construction is six months. “Now the existing challenge in the approval process is that whatever records are available online, the officials are asking us to get a physical copy certified by respective authorities. This is not necessary. We have been talking to the CMDA, the DTCP and other agencies. Now, the government is taking initiatives. One of the biggest request from CREDAI is to have online single window approval in 30 days with deemed approval. This is our single demand to the government as of now. We want the approval process to be as simple as possible. There are so many NoCs we get from various authorities. It is delaying the process. Single window online system is implemented in other States also. We should not be lagging behind,” said Mr. Krishn. “Deemed approval is very important because there is a likelihood of some delay which we will not be able to take up with the government. We need to get NoC starting from PWD, traffic police, highways, airports authority, environment agencies for high-rise buildings. These things are delaying the approval in a big way. As soon as we apply online, we want all departments to process our applications and each of them should have a time to react. If it is traffic NoC, they have to say yes or no in 15 days. Otherwise, it should be deemed approved. Only if we have a cut-off time we will see things improve in India,” said Mr. Krishn.
Records not updated
Registered Engineer Welfare Association (CMA) president A. Balasubramani said the process of obtaining approval had been delayed by more than three years in some cases.
“The records in the taluk offices have not been updated. Many details about Outer Ring Road and Inner Ring Road in Chennai have not been proper in the records maintained by the Revenue Department. It is not possible to integrate the e-services with planning permission applications in such a condition with incomplete records of line agencies,” said Mr. Balasubramani.
Former president of Chennai Corporation License Surveyor Association P.S.J. Palanirajan said most data such as field measurement book were not properly available online with the Revenue department.
“The CMDA and the Corporation have improved services in the past few months. More than 10,000 applications for building construction are processed by Corporation every year. The number is higher in the suburbs. We expect quicker services after the integration of the e-services with planning permission applications,” said Mr. Palanirajan.
