The Hindu 05.05.2010
Snag hits online building plan approval system
Aloysius Xavier Lopez
| Need for more trained manpower at zonal offices stressed |
A screenshot of the Chennai Corporation online building plan scrutiny form.
CHENNAI: The online building approval system of the Chennai Corporation is consuming time for delivery of services as the civic body is yet to overcome glitches in many of the zones even after a year.
Licensed surveyors had earlier welcomed the online initiative, but many of them now lay stress on the need for more trained manpower at zonal offices to cope with the challenges of the new approval system.
“The technical snag in the system last month delayed the process of getting advice notice for our client,” said A. Arul Prakash, a licensed surveyor.
The civic body took over a week to solve the technical problem, and many end-users said that it has not been able to deliver the services on time.
B.Velayudhan, who had sought online building approval this year, said, “It took more than 3 months for getting online building approval for my house.”
The civic body claims to give the result in eight working hours using the new system. But, licensed surveyors say that it takes more than a week for just rejecting or accepting the plan.
The rejected plans have to be resubmitted but they are not given priority.
The whole process consumes more than three months, they say.
Engineers at the zonal level say that those in charge of the scrutiny have other work to carry out too, causing a delay.
These are initial glitches which would be set right gradually, says a zonal-level official.
System causes delay
“We were satisfied with the initiative as we expected the system to quicken the process of approval. But the system itself has become a factor of delay in getting approval,” said another licensed surveyor of the Corporation.
Online building approval facility by the Corporation was available in all zones with effect from January 27, 2010. The civic body introduced the online system of plan approval last year but restricted it to zone 10 in April 2009 on account of glitches during the initial phase. Gradually, it extended the system to other zones.