The Centre on Tuesday decided to make easier the process of clearances for construction of buildings near Defence airports being used for civilian purposes.
While Colour Coded Zonal Maps (CCZM) for 28 such Defence airports will be developed soon along the lines of what is being done for civilian airports, it may require an area commander to clear constructions in restricted zones within 30 days failing which approvals would be taken as deemed.
These and a few other major decisions aiming to ensure ‘ease of doing construction business’ were taken at a high-level meeting convened by Union Minister for Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday.
The meeting, which was also attended by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, decided to suitably amend the Works of Defence Act, 1903 to remove hurdles for construction activities near Defence establishments, said a senior official from the Urban Development Ministry.
Post amendment, the Government plans to begin the move first with evolving CCZMs for four such airports Pune, Jamnagar, Chandigarh and Bagdogra by April-end. The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation will assist in this regard. Such CCZMs
will be shared with municipal bodies for according height clearances.
“Distance from the actual storage point will be considered for restricting the construction instead of from the boundary wall of ammunition
storage dumps at present, which will bring down the zone of restriction.
“Instructions have been issued to service headquarters and headquarters of all Defence organisations for sharing information along with maps of restricted zones to municipal bodies,” the official added.
The meeting observed that a considerable progress has been reported towards enhancing the ‘ease of doing of construction business’ in urban areas by streamlining the procedures, adoption of appropriate technology and by empowering urban local bodies to accord a wide range of approvals.
Among others who
attended the meeting
were Civil Aviation
Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju, Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javdekar and Minister of Tourism and Culture Mahesh Sharma.
It was noted that the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation have also commissioned improved version of online NOCAS (No Objection Certificate Application System) eliminating human interface and enabling faster issue of NOC through automatic calculations of permissible heights in airport zones with applicants being able to track the status.
Aiming to ensure ease of construction business, Union Ministry of Culture has come out with a mobile based app that enables online approvals for construction in the vicinity of monuments in just 72 hours through integration of websites of National Monument Authority and those of respective urban local bodies.
In association with ISRO, Ministry of Culture is also developing colour coded maps for 281 monuments using which municipal bodies can accord approvals in quick time while Ministry of Consumer Affairs has completed revision of National Building Code enabling speedy building approvals and the same will be notified in the next two weeks.