Punjab: OBPS running successfully in Urban Local Bodies, says Sidhu

Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday said that "The Online Building Plan Approval System (OBPS) is successfully running in the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of Punjab."

"Nearly 4000 building plans have been sanctioned on e-naksha portal till date and more than 8800 files have been entered successfully in the system as on date. About 1600 architects and engineers have registered on the portal and are actively participating in the process," he added.

Informing further about the system, Siddhu said: "Though OBPS is facing some teething problems, professionals, applicants and even the ULBs staff is happy with the system as it has many advantages over manual system."

Talking about its uses he said: "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 take place online starting from submission of file up to sanction."

Sidhu, divulging more on the finer points of the system said: "As per the default design of the system, it takes maximum 2 days by the scrutiny engine to scan the drawings and generate a report. If the report is all clear, the file moves to the sanctioning authority through various levels and e-naksha gets cleared."

The minister further detailed that on an average, 60 files are daily being passed by the online system. It takes hardly 2-3 weeks time to get a majority of the cases cleared due to strict timelines given to the staff for clearing the cases.

Emphasizing upon the characteristics of the system further, the minister said: "The system has brought in transparency and has considerably reduced corruption in the system. Once all the functionalities of 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 also elaborated that the system has gained more efficiency in the recent past as many steps have been taken after learning from the experiences e.g. Help Desk has been strengthened, Nodal Officers have been appointed in all the 6 regions to help and guide the stakeholders, Architects are being trained and motivated to encourage client to prefer legal constructions.

Associations of Architects, Engineers and Town Planners have been requested to become partners in this transparent system and help the society in creating a better-built environment through encouraging legal constructions.

Sidhu also added that the staff of Town Planning wing of the ULBs is also heaving a sigh of relief as they have very little left in their hands to give undue leverage to anyone in case of 'Sifarrish' from any quarters.

Furthermore, he said that "the system is being constantly refined day by day. Self Certification process by the architect is also facilitated on this portal which is being modified to provide instant approvals at the level of the architect."

"Under Self Certification, e-naksha will be passed in 2 days time if it is as per the rules. This facility will be available to the low-risk category of buildings of residential and commercial nature having plot area up to 500 sq. yards," he added.