Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: To ensure quick approval of building permissions, the state government introduced the Building Planning Management System (BPMS) a few years ago. Despite hundreds of complaints about the system, the government has insisted on continuing it. For the past four days, however, the BPMS system has been completely down. As a result, architects who have submitted proposals for building permissions, along with common citizens, are being forced to repeatedly visit the municipal corporation’s town planning (TP) section.
A few years ago, architects had to physically submit files to the TP section for building permissions. The process was criticised for being time-consuming. To address these complaints, the state’s Urban Development Department (UDD) launched the BPMS online system for issuing building permissions. Through this system, architects submit proposals online. Files are checked through the Auto-DCR method and then forwarded to the concerned officers. Earlier, when the online system was down, there was an option to submit files offline. Recently, even that option has been discontinued.
Last week, it was made mandatory to provide the Aadhaar number, mobile number, and email ID of the applicant seeking building permission. However, the system has been down for the past four days, causing significant inconvenience to builders as well as common citizens. Besides, the government has decided that building permissions will now be issued based on a waiting-list mechanism within the system. Sources said these changes were implemented from Friday. It was during these updates that the system crashed. As of Tuesday at 5 pm, the system was still down. There is a possibility, according to sources, that the system may resume functioning later in the evening or at night.
More than 1,500 proposals every year
The municipal corporation’s TP section receives more than 1,500 proposals for building permissions every year. The corporation earns at least ₹1,500 crore in revenue from these permissions. Thousands of constructions are underway in the city, yet only about two out of every ten property owners actually obtain building permission. The practice of obtaining proper building permission is simply not established in the city.
New development plan approved
The state government recently approved the city’s new Development Plan. As a result, lands previously marked under the green-belt category have now been included in the yellow zone. This has led to a surge in building-permission proposals submitted to the municipal corporation.