The Hindu 01.12.2009

GMC to introduce slew of online services

Staff Reporter

GUNTUR: Tired of doing rounds to the Municipal Corporation office to get your building plan approved? Or want to get a birth certificate online? In few months, residents in Guntur can get an instant approval for building plans, D & O Trade Licences and Birth & Death Certificates.

Taking a cue from Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the Guntur Municipal Corporation is planning to introduce a number of online services for its residents beginning next year. People of Guntur would be able to access a number of services, including a provisional approval for building plans for individual houses within 300 square feet, D & O Trade licences and Birth & Death certificates. “The GMC is already into computerisation and use of IT in a big way. Online access to services would improve the delivery system and lessen corruption. It will also reduce public interface and save valuable time for the residents,” Municipal Commissioner K. Ilambarthi told The Hindu on Monday. The GMC is toying up with the idea of tying up with a software firm, Otive, which have worked for MCD. The Commissioner, who has attended a workshop in New Delhi recently, had a first-hand assessment of the system.

Explaining the working of the system, Mr. Ilambarthi said that an applicant for building plan would have to submit the application online and immediately gets a computer generated provisional certificate and a transaction code. The GMC would have to complete the process of physical verification of plan within 30 days, failing which the final approval is granted. It would be the same procedure for the issue of Birth & Death certificate and D & O Trade Licences.