Chennai: In a significant move to decentralise and simplify the procedures for granting of building plan approvals, municipal administration and rural development minister S.P. Velumani on Wednesday announced granting of full powers to local bodies to sanction such plans.
In his reply to the discussion on demands for grants to his department in the Assembly, Velumani said people are facing obstacles in construction of buildings in municipal areas since they had to get approval from the local body as well as housing department..
The complex procedure is causing delay in building construction, the minister said. At present, local bodies cannot give planning permission for buildings up to an area of 4,000 square feet in case of residential projects. In case of commercial and public buildings the local bodies can give permission only for an area of 2,000 square feet.
The restrictions would be removed and powers similar to the Chennai Metropolitan Planning Authority would be granted to all local bodies including corporations and municipalities for sanctioning of planning approval. Petitions for planning approval should be sent only through online, Velumani said.
