The state government contemplates outsourcing issuance of building permissions after noticing that violations of Master Plan continue, commercial complexes are still being constructed in residential areas and there is no end to construction of unauthorised housing colonies.
A senior Housing and Urban Development Department officialsaid the governor administration strongly believes that corruption and illegalconstructions are synonymous.
“It has been felt that to uproot corruption buildingpermissions need to be outsources as that will ensure checks and balances onthe implementation of the Master Plan recently approved by the StateAdministrative Council headed by Governor SP Malik,” the official said.
The Srinagar Metropolitan Report, which is also known as theMaster Plan 2035, has already recommended that officers and official should beheld accountable for violations.
“The reason for haphazard growth of the city isunaccountability in the system. Otherwise it is not possible that a commercial construction would comeup in residential area without the connivance of field staff of SMC and SDA,”the official added.
The Master Plan also has named the lack of individualaccountability of planners, engineers and enforcement officers in the SMC, SDAand other Urban Local Bodies as key reason behind building violations.
“The institutionsshould create systems for not only fast tracking the processes but also shallbe prompt in holding the officers and officials accountable for violations anddilatory tactics adopted in dealing with the citizens,” the Plan documentreads.
It calls for outsourcing of building permissions, initiallyresidential permits, by registering qualified architects and town plannersafter building their capacities to handle permissions, eliminating the role ofdraftsmen in the process.
“Town Planning Organization shall be designated as the nodalagency for assisting the ULBs and Local Authority to set the systems in placeinitially till the process takes off,” the document reads.
It states the building permission process is so protractedthat it becomes an alibi for violations.
The building permission regime needs to be simplified sothat planned development is not impeded by the protracted building permissionprocess.
“One of the main reasons for the non-regulation of buildingactivity has been the overwhelming dependence on the human element in theenforcement by the Municipal Corporation and Development Authorities. Theseinstitutions need to use the available technologies like the satelliteimageries, aerial photographs, GIS software and detection software forplanning, building permission and enforcement. Technological intervention willfacilitate transparent planning, building permission and the regulation of thebuilding activity in the local area,” the Master Plan reads.
“These institutions should hire professional town plannerswho shall be supported by proper technological platform for taking theMunicipal Corporation and Development Authorities into the 21st Century. Thetrend of the employment of the architects, engineers and draftsmen in theplanning wing of these institutions should be stopped forthwith,” it adds.