Civic officials
attributed the higher revenue to the revision of rates in granting
building permission. There has been an increase in the department’s
income in the last three years from development charges, compounding
fees, FSI, balcony premium and other such fees, they added.

Vivek Kharwadkar, head of the building permissions department, also
attributed the revenue hike to reforms and better systemic coordination.
“We were set a target of Rs 600 crore during the last fiscal. We
achieved more. The auto development control rules, the system used to
provide building permissions has been upgraded. The number of
no-objection certificates (NOCs) required has been reduced to speed up
allotment,” said Kharwadkar.

Statistics with the department
showed a decline in the number of permissions given. In 2012-13, it was
4,440 but 4,623 in 2011-12 financial year.

The total area of
construction has also gone down by 8 lakh sq metres. Permissions for
construction of 74 lakh sq metres were granted in 2011-12, which reduced
to 66 lakh sq metres in 2012-13.