TS-bPASS pending applications drop by 85%

Effective coordination, regular follow-up behind the reason

Hyderabad: Effective coordination, regular follow-up and weekly meetings and reports are aiding in the faster clearance of building plan approval applications filed under the TS-bPASS, apart from the refund of applications that are rejected for varied reasons.

Earlier, despite stipulations that applications have to be processed in 21 days, many applications used to pile up. However, a systematic methodology has been put in place and weekly meetings by senior officials — from the Commissioner and Director Municipal Administration (CDMA) office — are changing the situation.

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Reports are published category-wise (residential or commercial), which official is responsible for the delay and by how many days it is delayed, etc. Further, a list of the top five officers from each Urban Local Body, who are delaying the processing, is also prepared. If the delay is beyond 15 days, a message alert is sent to the officials on the 17th day, asking them to take action.

If, for any reason, an application is not processed in 21 days, such details are shared with the senior officials for internal checking and to initiate action, TS-bPASS CEO Vinay Kumar said. All these measures have aided in cutting down pendency drastically. Till last year, there used to be about 800 pending applications, which have come down by over 85 per cent, he said.

Cracking the whip on lax officials

The Municipal Administration Department is initiating stringent action on officials who fail to adhere to instructions, especially with respect to clearing applications. Last year, action was taken against 33 officials, including six Municipal Commissioners under the HMDA limits for delaying application processing.

District Collectors were instructed to impose penalties on six Municipal Commissioners and 27 scrutiny officers, who delayed the processing of TS-bPASS applications. Since the commencement of TS-bPASS, penalties have been levied six times and 60 officials have been imposed with penalties.

Refund for rejected applications

In tune with the faster processing of applications, TS-bPASS is also acting on refunding the fee to applicants whose applications are rejected for different reasons. The target is to refund the amount in four working days. Last year, 6,800 applications were rejected and the refund for all, save a few, has been done, Vinay Kumar said. The delay was mostly due to payment gateways (banks and others) and poor verification of bank accounts. In a few cases, bank accounts were found to be inactive as well, he said.

When a complaint is lodged for the delay in refund of amount, TS-bPASS personnel call both the bank and the applicant. The details are shared immediately with the applicant either through mail or over a phone call. In many cases, the applicants’ mobile number was not shared and the mobile number of architects, who upload the designs and applications into the system, gets reflected. These glitches are also being fixed, Vinay Kumar said.