Building permits to be hit in Thiruvananthapuram

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The building permit processing at the town planning wing is likely to hit a roadblock soon with the city corporation refusing to adopt Sanketham – the innovative building permit software developed by Information Kerala Mission (IKM) for the urban affairs department last year.

The civic body, which currently depends on private software for processing applications online, receives an average of 100 applications a day.

It has also stopped the payment to the agency maintaining the software for the past two years.

A senior official said the agency was continuing its service despite arrears of around Rs 20 lakh.

“There was an order from the local self-government department to adopt the Sanketham. After that, the civic body refused to settle the dues. If it goes like this, they may back out very soon,” said the official.

The department has been raising this issue for some time with the finance standing committee and the council but the authorities conveniently delay the payment.

“The civic body should take a decision whether to go for the Sanketham or continue with the existing system. The dilemma is going to hit the citizens hard,” he said.

The designers and builders are unhappy with the way the online software systems of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation or the government are being handled.

“Now only online submission of applications are happening. Unless the applicants are able to download the permit, there is no use of such online facility,” said Kowdiar Harikumar, president of Kerala Building Designers Organisation.

He said all the files were now being manually processed and it took months to get permits.