Single window building permission system extends to villages
The system is already in use in urban local bodies in the state as well as in areas covered under Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA).
CHENNAI: Getting building plan approvals in rural areas will become easier as the Directorate of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj has directed the rural local bodies to implement the single window online system from October 2.
The system is already in use in urban local bodies in the state as well as in areas covered under Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA).
In an instruction to district collectors, P Ponniah, Director of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, said that powers have been delegated to panchayats to give building permission to residential buildings below 10,000 sqft with upto 8 dwelling units with a total height below 12 meters.
For commercial buildings, rural local bodies can give permission upto 2,000 sqft.
All the building plan permission should be given online from October 2. Applications can be uploaded using https://onlineppa.tn.gov.in/, the director said.
As a trial basis, one application should be processed completely online at district level before September 15 and at least one application should be processed online in each of the 388 blocks before October 1.
Apart from processing the planning permission, charges to be paid for processing the applications will also be collected online and cash transaction has been banned. Power to issue building permission has been delegated to executive officers of rural local bodies.
It may be noted that an announcement was made in the 2022-2023 state budget session to introduce the online system in rural local bodies to ensure ease of doing business.
CMDA first implemented the online planning permission system in May 2022 and DTCP (Directorate of Town and Country Planning) adopted the system to issue building plan permissions in urban local bodies. Meanwhile, the system has been integrated with NOC (No Objection Certificates) issuing departments. As many as 11 departments have been integrated out of 21 NOC issuing departments.
S Ramaprabhu of Builders' Association India (BAI) opined that the online system for urban local bodies had some minor glitches earlier and they were rectified. Once the system is implemented for rural areas, there could be some issues, but they will be rectified.
"As far as Chennai is concerned, there is no issue in the online system. All major departments have been linked to issue NOC. Most of the buildings are being covered by the 11 departments. For multi-storeyed buildings only, NOCs from 21 departments are required, " he explained.