BMC chief plans shift to e-governance for reducing dependency on staff.
Mumbai municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte has chalked out an ambitious plan to root out corruption from the BMC’s building proposals department, which is tasked with the scrutiny and approval of building plans.
Builders have often complained about widespread corruption in this department. They have observed that realty prices can be brought down by as much Rs2,000 per sq ft if corruption is eliminated from this department.
Kunte told dna, “We are making all the development control rules (DCRs) transparent and providing a level playing field to all builders. In fact, we are going to have auto DCR and e-office concept so that building plans are virtually processed by factoring in all rules pertaining to CRZ, heritage, height of buildings, reservations etc. The scope for discretion on the part of the staff will be drastically reduced.
We are moving out staffers who have completed their tenure, keeping records digitally and rotating engineers.”
“Apart from this, the BMC already has a robust SAP system. We are already in talks with Price Waterhouse to have cyber citizen facilitation centres. The whole idea is to migrate to e-governance in a big way; this will cover the building proposals department as well,” he added.
Kunte, 52, said corruption in the octroi department too will be a thing of the past when the BMC migrates to the local body tax (LBT) regimen which is account-based.
Independent observers have pegged the revenue loss to the BMC as a result of octroi evasion to a whopping Rs2,000 crore.
Kunte said, “Octroi is an archaic and physical system of surveying goods and levying tax on them. Invariably there is scope for corruption in such a system. What we need is an accounting-based system, like LBT, in which the underworld will have no role to play. Or else we will have to spend Rs700 crore on x-ray scanners, CCTV cameras etc. The sooner we move on to the LBT regime, the better for the city.”
Replying to a question, Kunte, who assumed charge on April 30, 2012, referred to three of his major achievements till date.
“I prepared a Vision Document for the city so that all our staffers and citizens share a common vision for the future.
Also, I have prepared the development plan for 2014-2034 and a development control regimen to go with it. The plan focuses on the re-development of Mumbai as a world-class financial, IT and entertainment hub. The emphasis will be on inclusive and integrated development so that the poor and marginalised sections too have a stake in the system,” he said.
“The second area on which I focussed was on providing water security to Mumbai. We have already secured the state government’s approval for building two dams — Pinjal and Gargai in Thane district. Also, the Centre is likely to fund the Damanganga-Pinjal water link,” he noted.
“The third area is the coastal road project, which is very vital for Mumbai, specially the western suburbs where the traffic situation is a cause for concern. About 100 hectares of coastal land will need to be reclaimed for this mega project. I am pushing for this project in the larger interest of the city.”
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