Getting nod for house a tiresome process

HYDERABAD: The biggest challenge one is bound to face for constructing a dream home or a multi-storied building is obtaining permission from relevant government agencies without running from pillar to post.
Though the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) has been planning to set up a single window system for the speedy clearance of building permissions, not much has been done due to lack of coordination among the departments concerned.
The present system is very lengthy and a builder has to knock on the doors of various departments such as Urban Land Ceiling department, Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board, revenue department and Hyderabad Urban Development Authority for clearances before getting the final nod from the MCH. The whole process takes two to three months, an MCH official said.
But once the single window system is in place, officials of the departments concerned will meet at MCH once a week and go through the files submitted by a builder.
They can examine the files and seek clarifications from the builder. The department officials can then return the files when they meet again the next week after examining them, the official said.
If the file is not examined and cleared within 15 days, the permission by the particular department is deemed to be approved by the department concerned, the official said.
The town planning department officials over the years have evolved numerous innovative ways to cause delays in clearing files. For instance, a builder will not be given all the reasons for objecting to the construction at one go.
Instead, every time one or two reasons are pointed out to him and when he comes back after correcting them, a new set of objections are placed before him.
In one instance, when a builder asked why the officials were not showing the deviations in one single meeting, it was learnt the official concerned allegedly demanded money for the speedy disposal of the file.