Corruption in Town/Country Planning Depts
Below are the issues, root causes and solutions for addressing corruption in Town and Country Planning departments of states. Kindly review them and share any additional inputs you may have. We are putting together the whitepaper which will be sent to Central and State Government stakeholders as well as the various Lokayuktas.
Corruption in Town and Country Planning in India - Solutions
1. The submission of architectural plans should be made online
2. Each task/file should have a defined turn-around-time
3. Visiting offices personally should not be allowed
4. The fees payments should also be done using debit/credit cards
5. Officials caught in corrupt practices should be immediately suspended
6. After digitization of T & C P department/Estate Offices, the requisite forms/formalities should be uploaded on the website of the department
7. The applicant should get regular sms about the status of his application
8. The applicant should only be called to the office in case of an emergency that that too with a written approval of the HoD
9. The discretionary powers of the officers should be reduced and everything should be made process driven
10. CCTV cameras should be placed in the department offices for monitoring
11. All forms should easily be available online and free of cost
12. The rules and regulations should be clearly mentioned on the department website.
Corruption Root Causes in State Town & Country Planning Depts
1. The department employees take bribes to make money on the side
2. It becomes easy to get clearances if you are ready to pay bribes
3. The clearances stay stuck in files if one is opposed to paying bribes
4. The officers have a lot of authority with which they harass people and force them to pay bribes
5. Department employees accept bribes under their relatives names so that they don’t get into scrutiny
6. Builders have a nexus with the department officials
7. The rules and regulations of the department are hard to interpret for the common man
8. Information is not given out voluntarily
9. Every work needs a lot of human interaction
10. The department is still not completely computerized
11. There is no time frame defined to complete any work.
Corruption Issues in State Town and Country Planning Depts
1. Bribes are given to get clearances for starting building projects
2. Babus accept bribes for providing fire and safety clearances for new buildings without even doing actual checks
3. Your files do not move till the time you pay a ‘file moving’ fee mostly collected by the peons
4. One would be asked to make repeated visits to the department office till they are ready to pay bribes
5. The department officials are offered bribes in the shape of money or flat in the name of relatives to get their irregularities approved
6. For individuals the sanction of plan takes months together, but for most builders the plans get approved immediately as they pay bribes
7. The department initially neglects the irregularities but after some underhand transactions it later regularizes them
8. Even a simple Rs. 5 form is sold at Rs. 500 saying that it is in shortage
9. They provide fitness certificate for dilapidated buildings after accepting bribes
10. Public lives are put under risk due to bribery and corrupt officers in this department more
Corruption in Town and Country Planning in India - Solutions
1. The submission of architectural plans should be made online
2. Each task/file should have a defined turn-around-time
3. Visiting offices personally should not be allowed
4. The fees payments should also be done using debit/credit cards
5. Officials caught in corrupt practices should be immediately suspended
6. After digitization of T & C P department/Estate Offices, the requisite forms/formalities should be uploaded on the website of the department
7. The applicant should get regular sms about the status of his application
8. The applicant should only be called to the office in case of an emergency that that too with a written approval of the HoD
9. The discretionary powers of the officers should be reduced and everything should be made process driven
10. CCTV cameras should be placed in the department offices for monitoring
11. All forms should easily be available online and free of cost
12. The rules and regulations should be clearly mentioned on the department website.
Corruption Root Causes in State Town & Country Planning Depts
1. The department employees take bribes to make money on the side
2. It becomes easy to get clearances if you are ready to pay bribes
3. The clearances stay stuck in files if one is opposed to paying bribes
4. The officers have a lot of authority with which they harass people and force them to pay bribes
5. Department employees accept bribes under their relatives names so that they don’t get into scrutiny
6. Builders have a nexus with the department officials
7. The rules and regulations of the department are hard to interpret for the common man
8. Information is not given out voluntarily
9. Every work needs a lot of human interaction
10. The department is still not completely computerized
11. There is no time frame defined to complete any work.
Corruption Issues in State Town and Country Planning Depts
1. Bribes are given to get clearances for starting building projects
2. Babus accept bribes for providing fire and safety clearances for new buildings without even doing actual checks
3. Your files do not move till the time you pay a ‘file moving’ fee mostly collected by the peons
4. One would be asked to make repeated visits to the department office till they are ready to pay bribes
5. The department officials are offered bribes in the shape of money or flat in the name of relatives to get their irregularities approved
6. For individuals the sanction of plan takes months together, but for most builders the plans get approved immediately as they pay bribes
7. The department initially neglects the irregularities but after some underhand transactions it later regularizes them
8. Even a simple Rs. 5 form is sold at Rs. 500 saying that it is in shortage
9. They provide fitness certificate for dilapidated buildings after accepting bribes
10. Public lives are put under risk due to bribery and corrupt officers in this department more
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can this be done online .. and have a dedicated person to help people those who are coming with these request and once they submit they can handover the acknowledgement # where they can follow it.. for building permit, infat in all departments of govt agencies... ofocurse it should be tech savy where in with internet facility etc., get the mobile # of the applied person and intimate it to them once it is ready and also notify them with the time frame on submitting the applications. more
Nov 24
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Harbans Lal Sehgal" Date: 15 Nov 2015 15:42 Subject: Subject : Utilisation of Cess received for Bharat Swachh Mission To: "LocalCircles" Cc: I am of the opinion that these funds be utilised for handling sewage problems in every society / mohalla , handling of waste / garbage , procurement of covered body vehicles for movement of garbage / waste to avoid foul smell emanating from the wet waste during transportation , pollution control by reconstruction / repair of small patches on roads which cause traffic jammes and this give rise to vehicular pollution , some amount may be allocated for waste management awareness and be disbursed to the members who are conducting waste management programmes , some amount be set aside for providing potable water supply to areas which are facing water crisis etc. All expenses be made by members of our circle in participation with MCF and every thing should be transparent. Hope if these basic steps are taken we will be very close to our mission more
Nov 16
I have only one Question..... .... is Govt or Political leaders really don't know about how to stop the corruption / how to make the corruption free country ????? more
Nov 15
Dear Sir , Request to pl. Issue I - Card to the members to enable them fight effectively against the defaulting persons / departments . We are taking up the serious issues with the local Admn. and in some cases with Director Urban Local Bodies & CM Haryana . Hope you will consider our request . Regds H L SEHGAL more
Nov 13
why are the roads had been laid again and again which not only make the houses on the road to lower level and re construct again and spending your saved money again when you are old...to address this issue. Is it called eco friendly? Instead they can spend the allotted amount to lot of other good things for localities... councillors please stop this acitivity and lay a good road only in a good manner and quality work... more
Nov 01
