• Modified building by-laws to take at least 3 months to come into force
• By-laws have been sent to government departments for comments
• Special committee was set up to decide on modifications
• Updated by-laws will focus on parking, solar energy, rain water harvesting
• GMDA had written to the government last year for modifications
• CM Sonowal had set Oct 31, 2019 as the deadline for the same
The modified building by-laws are yet to come into effect even after chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal had set the deadline for the same as October 31, 2019. As per sources, it will take at least another three months for the updated by-laws to come into force.
Deepak Bezbarua, Town Planner at Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) told G Plus that they are expecting the new building by-laws to come within the next few months.
“There are some changes and modifications which needed to be made in the existing building by-laws. The modified by-laws have been sent to individual government departments and stakeholders for comments and the government is awaiting the comments to come,” added Bezbarua.
According to authorities, a special committee was set up in order to decide on the modifications to be made to the existing building by-laws. The committee comprised officials from the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC), representatives from the Assam Real Estate and Infrastructure Developers’ Association (AREIDA), Architects’ Association of Assam as well as other stakeholders.
Before the modified by-laws are placed before the cabinet, as per the guidelines, it is supposed to be sent for comments of the stakeholder departments. For this, various departments including finance, urban development etc need to give their comments, and suggestions for improvement.
Sources informed that the updated by-laws will take at least three months to come into force.
Bezbarua mentioned that the updated building by-laws will focus on more available parking space for residents, solar energy, compulsory rain water harvesting as well as segregation of waste among other parameters.
Building by-laws are a set of norms set by the authorities for construction of buildings which mention its various requirements. The regulatory authorities grant permission for building plan only when the by-laws are adhered to.
Last year, the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) had written to the state government for modification of the building by-laws. These rules were found to have some errors and the authorities felt they needed some significant modifications.
The demand for modifications in the building by-laws has been a long-standing one in the state from the real estate developers.
The chief minister had also given his assent on October 9, 2019 and had directed the Guwahati Development Department (GDD) to prepare a contemporary set of building by-laws within October 31, 2019 in order to boost the real estate sector.
The real estate developers have also raised their concerns in the past regarding issues which hinder the smooth conduct of the building process.
As per the current building by-laws, there is a time limit set for issuing building permit in Assam. The by-laws mention: “Application for Planning Permit shall be disposed of within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of the application. Application for Building Permit shall be disposed of within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of Planning Permit.”
However, the builders complained of a tedious process of obtaining approvals from authorities.
Builders informed that due to the existing errors in the by-laws, many real-estate developers have been unwilling to take up new projects and the ones which are ongoing are the earlier projects.
Further, sources informed that many projects including those under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) are held up due to the problems with the by-laws.
Additionally, architects too feel that obtaining building permission in the state is a tedious process.
“Even with the online system, which is now in place, building permissions can take anywhere from six months to even a year. This causes unnecessary delays,” a Guwahati-based architect told G Plus.
Additionally, the economic slowdown has also affected the real estate sector for the past few months as the real estate developers claimed to have lost out on business.
On the other hand, the authorities at the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) informed that since online system of issuing building permission was adopted a few months ago, all evaluation related to adherence with by-laws is done by the software itself.
“Since there is no human interference and the machine scrutinises it, many discrepancies are found. The machine catches discrepancies which are as small as 1 millimetre and thus the software doesn’t send it to the higher level for permission until it is rectified,” a senior GMC official mentioned.
He added that there have been instances where the buildings have been passed at a single go while others have been pending for years.