Civic body gets quick on its feet

Under a new scheme, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, building plans submitted by any architect registered with the Council of Architecture are to be approved on merit within a week of submission, reports Neelam Pandey.

The endless wait to get the building plan of your house sanctioned is finally over.

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Under a new scheme, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), building plans submitted by any architect registered with the Council of Architecture are to be approved on merit within a week of submission.

In fact, on Thursday the civic agency sanctioned a residential building plan in Hauz Khas within four days of plan submission. Otherwise, sanctioning of a plan takes anywhere between two to six months.

The agency has also said that those building plan applications that have been lying with the department for months could now be moved through the new system, but their building fee would not be refunded.

“The new system is quite effective and we sanctioned one application in four days. Residents whose applications have been lying for months can also apply,” said MCD Commissioner K.S. Mehra.

The new system came into effect from February 1. The present system is only for residential areas.

“For commercial buildings, the procedure is a bit complex as they require no objection certificates from various agencies. We are planning to come up with a similar scheme for them too,” said a senior MCD official.

The building department would also carry out checks on random 20 per cent cases of the preceding month to verify if information provided were correct.