VIJAYAWADA: One need not run from pillar to post at the municipal offices for getting his or her building plan approved; nor does he/she has to wait for long hours or days for it to get processed.
Now, all one has to do is to apply online and the application for the building plan will be processed instantaneously and if approved, the approval will be sent online to the applicant within hours, if not minutes.
Online issue of approvals for building plans by the Town Planning wings will be implemented in 110 municipal bodies in the state in a phased manner starting with the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) from November 1. Softec Solutions, which has bagged the contract for developing the software for the purpose, is now ready to implement the same.
Disclosing this to newsmen here on Friday, municipal administration minister P Narayana said that the contract was given to the company through the tendering process for Rs 26 crore. Apart from developing the software, the company would also maintain the same for five years. “We have asked the company to complete the development of the software and upload necessary data along with rules and regulations by the end of October and the same will be done. Initially, it will be implemented in the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation and in a few months, it will be implemented in other civic bodies as well,” he said.Though the company said it would be able to install the software in all the civic bodies and operationalise the same by February 2016, Narayana asked it to complete the entire process by end of December itself. According to him, the Town Planning Wing of any municipality is one of the most difficult wings to deal with and one has to wait for several days to get the necessary approvals for his or her building plans.
Through a similar system has been tried out in a limited manner in cities like Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore, it has faced the same problem - non-cooperation from the municpal employees. “To ensure that such a situation does not arise here, we have been had intense discussions with the Town Planning officials of all the civic bodies, the Principal Secretary and other officials concerned. They have been directed to ensure that the new online system, which is meant to simplify the process and be more transparent and accountable, is implemented without any hiccups or complaints,” he said.
Asked how the online process would simplify the process, Narayana said the customised software would incorporate all the data necessary for approval of the layouts such as the mandatory setbacks and rules and regulations. “If suppose I have a 1000-sq yard plot and have applied for building plan approval, the system will cross- check the data available with it and if the building plan and the setbacks match the set guidelines, the approval will be generated and forwarded or else rejected. Say, if the required setback is 10 feet, but only 9 feet is mentioned, the application will be rejected and a fresh application has to be submitted”, he explained.Asked if the computerisation of building plan approval process was a measure to reduce human resources involvement, the minister said all that the government was trying to do was to simplify the process and make it customer-friendly.
VMC Saves Rs 25 Lakh Thru Biometric Attendance
Vijayawada: The health department of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has saved Rs 24.73 lakh, ever since it adopted biometric (Aadhaar-based Iris scanning technology) attendance about one-and-half month ago, for its 855 permanent workers, 2,984 contract workers and another 443 workers from DWCUA and CMEY groups. In a press release here Friday, VMC chief medical officer Gopi Naik said that the new attendance system had ensured that genuine workers were attending the works and the benami workers were checked. “Since the e-Muster with new attendance system records the time, the worker’s punctuality and regularity got improved. Unlike previous system, the new system provided ready data of leave status online, which enabled the officials to take necessary measures to set right the situation.” Further, the system ensures correct accounting of the pay days and accordingly, payments are being made. Workers are getting benefited by knowing their leave position, using their mobile phone, the number of which is registered with the corporation, he added.