Getting approvals for buildings to be easier soon with single-window system.

The task of getting approvals from different civic agencies for buildings is likely to get easier with new and dynamic building bye-laws in the offing. The Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) recently organised a workshop where experts, architects, consultants, and citizen bodies gave suggestions on simplification of the existing building bye-laws.

The objective of the workshop was to invite suggestions to make the bye-laws simpler and user-friendly paving the way for electronic processing for sanctions.

The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) had formed a committee to rework the bye-laws and the draft bye-laws so prepared have now been in public domain on the website of the DUAC, DDA and MoUD inviting suggestions.

At the workshop on Tuesday, Sonali Bhagwati, member, DUAC, and chairperson of the building bye-laws committee, said, 'One of the first things I did while studying architecture was reading the bye-laws and interpreting them. No matter how many times you read the bye-laws, you never get them right and changes are to be made over and over again with every authority you approach with your building plan. There comes the concept of middlemen, who would interpret it, know someone in the authorities concerned, and get the work done. So we thought, why not make the bye-laws simple. We would like suggestions that lead us to simple 10-15 page bye-laws.'

Emphasising a single-window system, Ms. Bhagwati said there are anomalies between various agencies. For example, even if you get the bye-laws right you have to meet the requirement of the fire department which would be out of sync with those of say of the airport authorities.


THE HINDU