BMC won’t manually inspect buildings for fire safety NOCS

AS PART OF ITS PLAN TO BOOST EASE OF DOING BUSINESS IN THE CITY, BMC ALSO PLANS TO DELINK PROPERTY CARD AND BUILDING PERMITS

MUMBAI: As part of its effort to boost the ease of doing business, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will introduce a set of changes with regard to building permissions – including doing away with manual inspection of building plans while giving no-objection certificates (NOCS) for fire safety.

The civic body will soon introduce a range for the minimum space required on building floors and compounds for fire safety, instead of a fixed requirement, said civic chief Ajoy Mehta.

“For example, we will say the front open space outside a building can range from 6 to 12 metres, instead of having a minimum mandatory number,” Mehta explained.

The change will reduce officer-to-applicant contact and as a result, reduce the time needed for approvals. “The moment there is an interface facilitating people-to-people contact, it is dangerous as it leads to malpractices and favouritism. We want to take away that interface,” Mehta said.

“Mumbai’s construction sector is so complex that we will not be able to hand out any fire NOCS if we strictly follow every written law. In such cases, officers manually make exceptions suitable to the situation and hand over the NOC. We want to do away with that,” Mehta added.

In addition, the civic body also plans to delink the property card and building permissions.

Currently, a developer applying for building permission is required to produce a property card that is verified by BMC.

However, civic officials say this process is time consuming and so BMC will no longer verify property cards.

“We are moving towards selfcertification. We are planning to introduce a change where plinth-level construction can be self-certified by architects before carrying on with building construction. This is a tricky issue as the entire building stability depends on correct construction of the plinth,” said Mehta.

This year, India ranked 52, from last year’s 181, in the ease of doing business index.