The Hindu 30.01.2010
Online plan approval system covers all zones
Aloysius Xavier Lopez
— Photo: R. Ragu
A screenshot of the Chennai Corporation website.
CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation has extended the online building approval system to all the zones of the city.
Even though builders and licensed surveyors welcome the online initiative, many lay stress on the need for a proper training programme for licensed surveyors to cope with the problems of the new approval system.
“We are satisfied with the initiative as we expect the system to quicken the process of approval. But many licensed surveyors who failed to attend the training programme are struggling to get approval,” said N.Gopinathan, a licensed surveyor of the Corporation.
Building approval by the civic body has to be obtained online in all zones with effect from January 27, 2010. The online system of plan approval was introduced last year and it was restricted to Zone 10 in April 2009 on account of glitches during the initial period.
Gradually, it was extended to other zones. The last two zones to be included were Tondiarpet and Saidapet on Wednesday, according to an official. Ice House and Pulianthope were included on January 20, 2010. Ayanavaram and Basin Bridge joined the system on December 30 while Kodambakkam and Kilpauk joined on November 25 last year.
According to a Corporation official, of the 1,977 plans admitted, a total of 1,550 have been approved online till date. The civic body gives building approval in eight working hours using the new system. However, the delay in many cases is mainly because of the lack of awareness on the part of many end-users, said M.K.Sundaram, Secretary of Construction Industry Development Council-Chennai.
Need for more training
“Some of the building approvals in zones where the online system was applicable have taken more than two months. So there is a need for more training for the licensed surveyors as it has now been extended to all zones,” he said.
“When a plan is rejected because of technical reasons, the resubmitted plan is being given the least priority and it takes two weeks for processing it again,” said S.Balakrishnan, a licensed surveyor.
