Times of India: Mumbai: Thursday,
May 19, 2016.
In a
citizen-friendly move that promises to bring much-needed transparency in the
housing sector, the BMC has brought the entire building proposal system online.
It has so far
uploaded as many as 1.7 lakh building files, some dating back to 1954. There
are around 2.8 lakh buildings in the city, according to the BMC's assessment
department records. In other words, 61% of building proposals are already
online, details of which are just a click away.
All you need
to do is key in the ward name, street name, the CTS (cadastral survey number)
number or the file number on the site to get required information, including
the project status in case of an under-construction project, plan drawings,
number of floors that were approval, when the approval came in, and details of
the architect and the developer.
With the
building proposal system moving online, from the time a proposal is submitted,
it would move in a parallel manner to different departments for clearance and
could get passed in much less time than now.
Vinod
Chitore, chief engineer, development plan (DP) department, said the civic body
is still in the process of uploading more files. "While 1.7 lakh files of
Mumbai buildings have already been uploaded, approximately 15,000 more still
need to be put up. We have already begun the process of uploading these files.
Citizens will also be able to see the exact status of an ongoing building
project on the website," said Chitore.
Civic
officials said this option will reduce their burden of providing information on
building proposals that activists often seek under the Right to Information
(RTI) Act. "Also, if someone wants details of a particular building
proposal in case of litigation, he or she can visit the website," said a
civic official.
"While
we did begin the process in May 2015 on a trial basis, it was only on May 15,
2016, that the entire system was brought online. There would not be any human
interference in any of the proposals and once submitted on the website, it
would go to different departments in a parallel manner for clearance. In the
past, a proposal has taken up to a year to get cleared. However, with the new
system, it can be cleared in 60 days," said Chitore.
Now, all
approvals for a project, at every stage, must be sought and given on its
website with digitized signatures, including that of municipal commissioner
Ajoy Mehta. A project's status will be updated online and can be accessed by
all.
The BMC building
proposal department has been repeatedly criticized in the past as files are
known to lie in a particular department for an excessively long period. With
the new system, though, the online proposal will give exact details of where it
has been stuck as well as the reason for the delay. Fee acceptance and
no-objection certificate (NOC) requirements of various departments such as
fire, the superintendent of garden and roads, among others, can also be
processed online. This move is aimed at improving the ease of doing business.
The BMC is
also working on bringing the GIS (geographic information system) mapping into
the system. "We are working on integrating the new online system with GIS,
which would make all buildings and its area available to us virtually at any
time. However, this will take time," added Chitore.
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