Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government Monday launched a single-window system to facilitate the sanction of building permits, an initiative aimed at ensuring transparency and expediting the completion of small residential projects in the state.
Under the initiative launched by the Tamil Nadu Department of Housing and Urban Development, any person who wishes to construct, reconstruct or develop a building (with ground floor or ground plus one floor) in their plot of up to 2,500 square feet and built-up area of up to 3,500 square feet for residential purposes shall be eligible to obtain the building permit under the self-certification scheme instantaneously. The public can get the permit through the official website by uploading necessary documents such as plot information, ownership details, abutting road width, built-up area, and building height.
According to the official statement, the building should be not more than seven metres high and must be constructed at a distance of 1.5 metres from the road.
The move is expected to ease the burden of the long wait to get building permits for the middle class and economically weaker sections in the state.
“The self-certification scheme is an innovative initiative aimed at reducing the time taken for approval, increasing transparency, and sensitising citizens to comply with the prevailing building bylaws,” K. J. Ramprasath, assistant director at the Directorate of Town and Country Planning, told ThePrint.
According to the official, once the applicant certifies the authenticity of the information furnished, the software will automatically calculate the associated charges to be paid by the applicant. The applicant can download the building permit and drawings instantly along with the QR code once the fees are paid.
Till now, the process of building permission applications in the state involved site inspection, scrutiny of documents and drawing and generation of fee demand by the local planning authority, which often took over a month before the issuance of a final building permit.
An official at the Tamil Nadu Housing & Urban Development Department who did not wish to be named told ThePrint that the government had been getting many complaints from the public regarding the delay in sanctioning building permits in the state. Many had also been facing harassment from the officials in the process, he said.
The official added that the initiative would also help industrialists and ensure ease of doing business in the state.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin launched the portal at an event at the state secretariat Monday in the presence of chief secretary Shiv Das Meena, minister of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department P.K. Sekar Babu, and Housing and Urban Development minister S Muthusamy. At the event, the chief minister also handed over building permission to 10 beneficiaries in the state.
Stalin virtually inaugurated 4,184 flats constructed across the state at Rs 541.32 crore, and 1,459 rental flats for government employees and commercial buildings constructed by the housing department at Rs 382.84 crore.
The official launch comes five months after the state’s finance minister, Thangam Thennarasu, announced the initiative during the state budget in February 2024.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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