Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) is overseeing a project developing a system to make the granting of building permits a more transparent process. Once Intelligent Building Plan Management System (IBPMS) is developed, the pilot will be rolled out at Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. It was to achieve this very end that the Information Kerala Mission (IKM) developed Sanketham software, however the IKM solution could not make the process completely digital. The engineering wing at local bodies continue to tinker with Sanketham software.
This facilitates applications for building permit to be submitted online, and some of the processes are digital. However officials say the software continues to give room for corruption and slow moving of files. Verifying whether a building plan follows the Kerala Municipality Building Rules needs to be done manually with the IKM software. Suppose the minimum distance between a building and the street is 4.5 metres as per KMBR, the designer who uploads the building permit application can claim that it is so, even if the plan says something else.
The new software will ensure that all parts of the process happen online, and that tracking of files can be done with ease. Everyone including the applicant will be able to know the status of a file by the click of a button. It will be easier for senior officials to spot files which are not moving as fast as they should. It is part of their ease of business drive that KSIDC has taken up the project.
