Permit for building construction to go online soon

IMPHAL, Jul 20
With the implementation of OBPS (Online Building Permission System) by September, getting  permi-ssion for construction of buildings will be 'just a mouse click away', said Y Narmada Devi, Chief Town Planner/State Director for AMRUT & PMAY(U), Government of Manipur.
She was speaking at a one day regional workshop on "Online Building Permission System" at City Convention Centre here today in the presence of MAHUD Minister Th Shyamkumar and Additional Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Shiv Das Meena.
"The Government of India is planning to imple- ment the OBPS by September 2019. However, the expenditure likely to be incurred is expected to be beyond Rs 1 crore and considering the financial posi- tion of the North Eastern States, the Central Government has decided to provide the software to the eight NE States free of cost. Today's workshop is to move forward the decision taken in a workshop held at Agartala in December last year," the Chief Town Planner said.
Implementation of the OBPS, under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, in NE States is entrusted to National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and NIUA engaged e-Government Foundations, Bangalore as holding partners, Narmada said.
Imphal Municipal Corporation Building Bye-laws (First Amendment) 2019 has incorporated all the 14 provisions of the Model Building Bye-Laws, 2016. Provision for electric vehicle charging infrastructure as directed by the Ministry will also be introduced soon, Narmada said.
Speaking at the event, MAHUD Minister Th Shyamkumar said that the ranking of the country has improved substantially from 181 in 2018 to 52 in 2019 in the construction permit indicator as per the Ease of Doing Business Report 2019.
11 States have implemented the OBPS. However, its implementation in the North East has been delayed due to lack of technical capability and huge cost of the system, he said.
"I am very happy to learn that the e-Government Foundation will provide free software for OBPS in North Eastern States," Shyamkumar said.
Under the OBPS, an applicant has to just fill one centralised form and application will be forwarded to the agencies concerned like municipality and other related departments. Since there is no physical interaction between the applicant and Government officials, 'there is hardly any scope of paying bribe', the Minister said.
Stating that many urban sector projects remain unfulfilled due to lack of funds, the Minister appealed the Centre to revive the sanction of projects under 10% Lump Sum Scheme for North East States. Commissioner MAHUD M Joy Singh, Director MAHUD Th Harikumar Singh also attended the workshop. During the event, NUS (National Urban Stack) website was launched and a street play based on Pradhan Mantri Awaz Yojna (Urban) was presented by Nokphade team.