Construction nods in Gujarat to be given online

Finally,the GujaratGovernmenthas decided to provideapproval of land and construction-related clearances online.The move was considered after the state governmentwas arm-twisted by the real estate lobby ahead of the 8thVibrantsummit in January,which threatened to boycott the summit over daily harassment bygovernment agencies in giving such-relatedclearances. Further,undertheEaseof Doing Business programme, thestate urbandevelopment department (UDD) hasalso been givena target to smoothen the cumbersome processes affecting the realestate industry. Thegovernment has started developing a comprehensive developmentpermission system withthe following:1) An automated building permission system.2) Geographic information system (GIS) based master plan for urbanlocal bodies.3) Town planning data on GIS for municipal corporations.4) Integration for these services as a part of E-Nagar Extention.5) Internet services for all urban local bodies. The recent BudgetforGujarat has allocatedRs 35 crore for this. Moreover,according to reports, thegovernment has alsodecidedto deploy advanced technology in urban development. GIS-based urbandevelopment planning and GIS-based online approvals and clearance areexpected startsoon. Beginningto take construction-relatedpermissions online and minimisehuman intervention,theclearanceswill be be decided on in a stipulated time-frame,which accordingto the government, will notonly help developers get clearances quickly but will bringtransparencyas well.