PANAJI
In a major decision, the State government has dissolved the committee entrusted with the task of recommending land development and building projects to the Town and Country Planning Department based on the Regional Plan 2021.
The order which has also tweaked the protocol of powers and jurisdiction of the various levels of officers of the TCP and Planning and Development Authorities (PDAs) for granting technical clearances for projects, was issued by Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel on Wednesday.
The timing of the order ahead of the exercise by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to allocate portfolios to his cabinet colleagues has given rise to discussion in political circles as to its intent.
According to Goel's order, technical clearances for building projects up to 1,000 sq mtr built-up area and land development proposals of up to 10,000 square meters area will now be dealt with by the TCP department at the taluka level.
For building projects up to 2,000 square meters built up area and land development proposals of up to 20,000 square meters, technical clearance processes will be dealt with by the TCP department at district level, the order said.
Further the Chief Town Planner (Planning) will handle technical clearances for building projects above 2,000 square meters built-up area and land development proposals above 20,000 square meters, the order said.
Meanwhile, applications for revision, extension without exceeding the total area will also be dealt with by the TCP department at the respective hierarchical level.
Also, all approvals which the statutes require that they be put up for government approval are to be referred to the State government with recommendations of the Chief Town Planner (planning).
For the PDAs, all applications of development permission including renewal of permission/revision, NOC under Sec 49(6) of the TCP Act, zoning certificate and completion order, the processes have to be handled at the Member Secretary level of the respective PDAs, the order said.
Meanwhile, the TCP departments online Building Plan Approval Management System (BPAMS), hitherto used to give approvals to single family dwellings only, will now be extended as an option in addition to the offline process for all types of buildings up to a built-up area of 5,000 sq mts.
Goel's order also said: "Town and Country Planning and PDAs will scale up online approval system (BPAMS) for all types of buildings up to a built-up area of 5,000 sq mts as an option to applicants while continuing with offline method till further order.”
The scaling up of the online system for approvals in the TCP department was announced by Sawant in his budget speech on Wednesday.
