The Times of India        10.01.2011

HYDERABAD: There is an
overwhelming response from builders and land owners for `Green Channel’,
where building applications are cleared within four working days.

As many as 526 building permissions were granted by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation
(GHMC) in the last three months. Incidentally, the highest number of
applications were processed in Kukatpally (circle 14), where 61
permissions were granted, followed by Circle 10 (Khairatabad) with 58
applications and Qutubullapur (Circle 15), where 57 permissions were
given while only four buildings were permitted in Circle 8 (Abids area).

The GHMC
had introduced `Green Channel’ on October 18, 2010 to dispose of
building applications, where there are clear documents, to prevent
corruption in the town planning wing. As per this system, the official
concerned would be penalised at the rate of Rs 50 per day, if there is
any delay, in clearing files till the permission is granted. The amount
would be recovered from the salary of the officer concerned. Most
importantly, no additional fee would be levied for builders under this
channel.

However, the `Green Channel’ is being implemented for
giving building permissions for ground+three floors (12 metres height),
excluding parking floors or 1,000 square metres area plots in the
corporation area.

As of now, building permissions under the Green Channel were being granted in layouts approved by either the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority
or GHMC. The applications would have to be submitted through registered
architects to ensure that plans conform to master plan and zoning
regulations.

“Initially, there were doubts about the Channel
but now the response is increasing every day,” GHMC commissioner Sameer
Sharma said.