What are the steps taken by Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to ease building plan sanction?

They are revamping the entire system of getting building plans sanctioned to reduce time and hassle.

At present, a developer constructing a project whose height is more than 15.5m (51ft) and built-up area exceeding 500sqm (5,400sqft) has to get separate clearances from various government departments — fire services, environment and land (Urban Land Ceiling) — before applying to KMC for plan sanction. In case of the environment, one has to again apply for clearance twice, once before and again after the sanction. All this takes up to 18-20 months.

The plan is to introduce a single-window for plan submission and clearance within three to six months.

KMC will act as a nodal agency and coordinate with all government departments to seek their individual clearances. “Instead of a customer having to run from one agency to the other, KMC will forward the plan to each agency and seek preliminary feedback within 10 days. If there is an objection, the agency has to cite the reason. The applicant can then take remedial measures and re-apply.

The survey and assessment departments have been asked to upgrade their software so that it is in sync with that of the building department. The three other government agencies — environment, land and fire services — have also been asked to upgrade their software and establish links with it. Simultaneously, architects and licensed building surveyors (LBS) are also being trained on the system so that they can accordingly file for plan sanction in the future.