With the implementation of the new Intelligent Building Plan Management System for the application and processing of building permits, delays due to human intervention might be a thing of the past.
The trail run for the new system, being implemented by the State government across all local bodies, has been going on at the city Corporation for the past three weeks.
According to officials who are part of the implementation of the new software at the Corporation, one of its highlights is that it could verify basic building rules before accepting the application, thus reducing the work load of the employees here.
“Since Kerala Municipality Building Rules (KMBR) is integrated into the software, it could make checks on the submitted building plan based on various parameters. All these used to be done manually before. The plan will now be accepted after this initial vetting process. In the next stage, the master plan for the city will also be integrated to the software, thus making it possible to check more parameters for the application,” says an official.
Once the application is accepted, it could be tracked at all stages of its movement, between the various officials involved. “One of the biggest complaints of the public in the building plan application process is on the undue delay. Sometimes, a file could be held up at a particular official’s desk for no reason. Now, it is possible to track where a particular file is at any point of time. The reason for delays, if any, will have to be provided,” says the official.
The software is also expected to be linked with the existing online systems of the other departments, including town planning, fire department, and the coastal regulatory zone authority, from which clearances are required.
The Corporation is organising training for approved building designers, supervisors, engineers and architects.
This is part of the ongoing trial run, to check whether the software is accepting all kinds of plans. The training will be available at the Corporation main office on all working days till February 8, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The date for the full-fledged launch of the software is yet to be announced.
