BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will finally begin issuing building and layout plan approvals from January 1, 2015.
The Corporation has been demanding the power to issue building plan approvals for the last few years.
Earlier, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) issued building plan approvals for construction of all dimensions. But, the State Government recently approved the transfer of the responsibility from the Development Authority to the Corporation as per the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act.
From Thursday, the building plan for all constructions within 15 metres height, with plot area up to 2,000 square metre, will be processed by BMC. In line with the decision, BDA's town planner, Bandita Mohapatra, was recently transferred to BMC as its senior municipal planner. The move comes in the wake of stiff resistance by the employees of BDA, who were opposed to the shift.
BDA recently roped in a process managing firm for faster processing of building approvals and the occupancy certificates. After the BMC officially takes over the responsibility from Thursday, all the applications pertaining to the Corporation's jurisdiction will be forwarded to the Corporation, instead of the BDA.