Amidst talks of change in his portfolio for being a “non-performer”, Punjab Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday claimed that the online building plan approval system (OBPS) is successfully running in the Urban Local Bodies with nearly 4,000 building plans being sanctioned on e-naksha portal, besides more than 8,800 files being uploaded in the system
Besides, Sidhu maintained that about 1,600 architects and engineers have registered on the portal and are actively participating in the process. “Though OBPS is facing some teething problems but professionals, applicants and even the ULBs' staff are happy with the system as it has many advantages over manual system,” said Sidhu.
Combating the tag of a ‘non-performer’ given by the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh after Congress’ not-so-good performance in the state’s urban pockets, Sidhu stated that the income of many ULBs has increased after the launch of OBPS due to the good response shown by the public.
“Time and energy of applicant as well as architects is saved due to the ease of doing business on this portal. Hundreds of satisfied users have availed services on their doorstep sitting in the comfort of their homes and offices as the total process takes place online starting from submission of file up to sanction,” he said.
Divulging more on the system’s finer points, Sidhu said that as per the default design of the system, it takes maximum two days by the scrutiny engine to scan the drawings and generate report. “If the report is all clear, the file moves to the sanctioning authority through various levels and e-naksha gets cleared. On an average, 60 files are being passed daily by the online system. It takes hardly two-three weeks’ time to get majority of the cases cleared due to strict timelines given to the staff for clearing the cases,” he said.
He added that presently, only three percent files are there in the system which are pending for more than one month, three percent are pending for less than 15 days and more than seven days old are seven percent.
Emphasizing upon the characteristics of the system further, the Minister said that the system has brought in transparency and has considerably reduced corruption in the system. “Once all the functionalities of the OBPS are made live, the applicant will be able to see the status of his file on his mobile phone dynamically through SMS facility,” he said.
“Seeing the success of this system, it is being adopted by other departments also in the state under the Ease of Doing Business,” he said.