Building permits to go onlinein Corporations soon: Jaleel

Local Administration Minister K.T. Jaleel has said the process of securing permits for constructing buildings will move to an online platform in all the city Corporations in the State shortly.

And within the next two years, the process would go online in the local self-government bodies across the State. This would eliminate the need for applicants for building permits to go to the Corporation and municipal offices several times and pay bribes to officials, the Minister said while speaking at an event here on Saturday to launch a State-level pilot project of the `automated and intelligent building application software' called Suvega.

“The applicants will not have to stand submissively in front of officials for hours once this online application process is put in place,” Mr. Jaleel said.

Sponsored by the Malabar Chamber of Commerce in Kozhikode Corporation, the ₹50-lakh project would make the application process hassle-free.

The applicants, the Minister said, would have to fill the online application form, enter all the necessary details and answer the relevant questions. If some of the relevant details were missing, the software would reject the application, but the applicant could redo the process. When the application was complete, the applicant would get a mobile phone message informing the applicant of the date and time of an on-site visit by an official from the local government body.

“This way, the whole process of securing a building permit will be made transparent, easy, quick and without paying any bribe,” the Minister said.

Noting that until now, the process involved a lot of heartburning for the applicant, long delays and bribing at several levels, he claimed the new system would herald a new chapter in the history of administration in Kerala.

Mayor Thottathil Raveendran pointed out that one area where city residents traditionally faced a lot of harassment and difficulties at the hands of the officials was securing the building permits.

To mark the launch of the software, two persons who had applied online through Suvega were handed their building permits at the event.