Building and layout permissions delayed in Telangana; people on tenterhooks

As the real estate sector in the State, especially in Hyderabad, is going through a lean patch, the inordinate delay in application processing is leaving the applicants more worried

Hyderabad: The real estate sector in Telangana has distinctive features, with the primary USP being a fast and time-bound building and layout approval system. But that appears to have become history now.

Since the last few months, builders, developers and even individual house owners are being made to run from pillar to post to get their applications processed and approved. Applicants from different categories are complaining about inordinate delays in application processing and issue of approvals.

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As the real estate sector in the State, especially in Hyderabad, is going through a lean patch, the inordinate delay in application processing is leaving the applicants more worried.

Despite applicants submitting all required documents and officials at the local level conducting inspections, applications are being held up for many days, citing different reasons.

This is not confined to high rise projects or vast layouts, but to individual houses and five floor apartments in different colonies as well.

In a few cases, applicants complain that officials had inspected the building construction and checked all the documents and yet their applications, including issue of occupancy certificates, were kept pending.

On being questioned, authorities claimed that the official concerned was on leave and the application would be processed only after the official joins the duty.

In other cases, applicants complain that their applications have been pending for over three months. In the past to facilitate transparent and time-bound approvals, the State government had introduced Telangana State Building Permission Approval and Self-Certification System (TG-bPASS).

Under the system, it was announced that if applications were not processed and approved in 21 days, they were deemed to be approved. This apart, officials with whom the applications were pending for more than the stipulated time were liable for punishment, including penalty.

It is learnt that over 500 applications (which have been pending for over 21 days) are yet to be processed under TG-bPASS.

Admitting the delay in permissions, Praneeth Group Managing Director Narendra Kumar Kamarju said there were multiple reasons. Approvals and No Objection Certificates (NOC) had to be obtained from multiple departments, including irrigation, revenue, environmental committee and others.

Now, after HYDRAA came into vogue, all the NOCs obtained in the past were being checked and processed. To avoid this inordinate delay, the State government has to establish a procedure under a system.

There was no issue to secure fire, air, environmental, electricity, Water Board approvals etc. But there has to be a proper way to follow for getting the applications processed, he said.

“It is only procedural and system-oriented changes fixation that we are expecting from the government,” said Narendra Kumar.

Echoing similar opinion, IRA Realty Founder and Managing Director Narsi Reddy said obtaining permissions for bigger projects was getting very challenging for reasons unknown. In the last few months, very few permissions bigger projects were approved, he said.

The government should make things convenient for applicants and should not make them run from department to other. Like in the past, a single window system should be operated and applications should be processed transparently without any delay, he added.

Apart from procedural delays, there was a lack of coordination among officials. Recently, many of them, especially from the planning and other sections have been transferred and there was a delay in handing over the DPMS digital keys for processing the applications.

Further, many applications which were approved in the past and issue of proceedings got pending due to elections. A few officials were now insisting that applications had to be checked again for ‘obvious’ reasons.