Haryana hits a blip

The online approval of buildings site plans in urban areas, introduced by Haryana on November 19 in all its 10 municipal corporations and 18 councils, has hit a blip. Its non-functionality is causing a loss of nearly Rs 1 crore every day to the state exchequer in the form of approval fee. The state is also losing cess for the Haryana Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board Fund since a part of the fee flows to the fund. What is more, even the old manual system has failed to approve a single plan during this period.

Any online service is desired as it is a state’s bounden duty to facilitate ease of service to its people, as was the case with the development of the online passport system. The upside: snappy processing time, digitised records, elimination of wheeling-dealing touts — hence corruption — owing to a faceless system. Disappointingly, what began with a bang is now a whimper. About a hundred-odd applications are made every day in the state. Earlier, too, it was possible to upload applications, but it was a rigmarole since a hard copy of documents needed to be submitted for the final nod. Now, all are caught in loose ends: the state, applicants, even architects and engineers, who were to be trained and registered for the new system. 

A system that should have saved time is causing inordinate delay; one that was meant to be hassle-free is the cause of vexation. Instead of rushing headlong with the idea, the Urban Local Bodies Department should have thought it through and continued with the existing familiar structure until the new system found its feet. While it is true, the transition period is not always without bumps, careful planning would have envisioned complications and a team of troubleshooters, on standby in every circle, would have fixed them as they surfaced. Every state has to be proficient if ‘Digital India’ is to be a reality. The system, for now, appears to be on a longish pause.